Barça-heavy Spain side

Posted Monday, June 24, 2013 by Marca.com

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque decided on a very Barcelona-influenced side against Nigeria in which eight of the eleven that started play their club football at the Camp Nou. There is only one other precedent of eight Barcelona players starting for the national side, in 1959 against Poland.

On the 14th October that year Spain beat Poland 3-0 and the Barça players representing Spain that day were Ramallets, Olivella, Gracia, Segarra, Gensana, Tejada, Kubala and Luis Suárez. The other three were Di Stéfano, Gento and Garay.
Against Nigeria the same outfield players were chosen as those who started against Uruguay with the added bonus of Barça keeper Víctor Valdés taking up his position between the posts.

Thus 'La Roja' was more reliant than ever on Barcelona players, aside, of course, from that one night in 1959. On the Castelao pitch in Fortaleza the eight Barcelona players were: Valdés, Jordi Alba, Gerard Piqué, Busquets, Xavi Hernández, Iniesta, Cesc Fábregas and Pedro.

Of the nine Barça players chosen to make the trip to Brazil only David Villa took a place on the bench while the starting eleven was completed by two Real Madrid players, Sergio Ramos and Alvaro Arbeloa, and Valencia forward, Roberto Soldado.