Barrios back in the Spain squad, yet not one question for De la Fuente

Nacho Donado, who attended Luis de la Fuente's press conference, is astonished that nobody asked the Spain head coach about Pablo Barrios's call-up, which came exactly a year after his last appearance for Spain.

As many as four Atlético players were called up by Luis de la Fuente: Marc Pubill, Álex Baena, Grimaldo and, the new addition, Pablo Barrios. However, it was genuinely surprising that, throughout the Spain head coach's press conference, which lasted almost 30 minutes, not a single question was asked about the Atleti player.

On 'El Club de Uría', Rubén Uría raised the subject with Nacho Donado, who had been at the Spain head coach's press conference at the Metropolitano. Donado said it is not his place to set anyone's agenda or tell them what to ask, and that he is fine with questions about newcomers such as Jacobo Ramón or Barrenechea, about the Ballon d'Or or about the 2030 World Cup final.

But Donado then said he is astonished by the lack of interest in a player he considers one of Spain's brightest prospects. He recalled that Barrios's last game for Spain was on 15 November, exactly a year before the Spain v England match to be played at the Metropolitano, and that everyone took it for granted he would have gone to the World Cup had it not been for injuries.

Donado made it clear that the Spanish Football Federation's communications department is in no way to blame, as it does not dictate questions to anyone. He finished by putting himself in the player's shoes: if he were Barrios and sat down with a radio station or a newspaper in the coming days, he would think that nothing he had to say interested anyone. Uría wondered aloud during the show: "If Barrios played for another Madrid team other than Atleti... would the head coach have been asked about him?"