the police in valencia tweeted this week that they would be investigating the ‘crime’ of vicente del bosque not having picked enough valencia players in his 23 man squad they later tweeted that the world cup winning coach was ‘beyond reproach’ and ‘thanks to everyone for their sense of humour’ some had not seen the funny side of the forces of law and order spending time tweeting about the national team but others were too busy agreeing to criticize the tweet valencia could easily have had striker paco alcacer, midfielder dani parejo and defender jose gaya in the squad likewise spain’s premier league contingent could point to juan mata, cesar azpilicueta and west ham goalkeeper adrian as unlucky absentees spain's squad trains at the ramon sanchez pizjuan stadium in seville ahead of their game against ukraine  vicente del bosque will be hoping to build a new golden generation after spain's world cup nightmare  del bosque takes training on thursday ahead of their clash with ukraine in group c of euro 2016 qualifying  barcelona midfielder andres iniesta in action on the pitch in seville ahead of the match  the strength of a squad can always be judged by the quality of players that don’t make it and the controversy about this squad selection shows just how spain’s options should make them optimistic ahead of france 2016 the hangover from their dismal group exit at the last world cup still hangs over the team but del bosque has been at pains to remind everyone this week that they remain european champions and go to france next year to defend their title against ukraine iker casilas looks set to keep his place but david de gea’s time will come sooner rather than later in front of the goalkeeper, spain’s defence tonight against ukraine brings together gerard pique – enjoying his best season for several years – and sergio ramos at full back atletico madrid right back juanfran will play on one side and barcelona’s jordi alba on the other side all four are in the final stages of the champions league – something that is true of the entire expected xi del bosque has players playing regularly at the highest level for their clubs spain's players stand to attention during their training session in sevill  iker casillas is set to retain his place in goal despite a string of mixed displays for club and country  but casillas is coming under increased pressure at international level from david de gea (right) (left right) david silva, vitolo, santi cazorla and alvaro morata in training for spain  in the centre of midfield he will pick two from the trio sergio busquets, mario suarez and koke the atletico madrid pair could play together if busquets is still considered not to be 100 per cent having only returned from an ankle injury at the weekend the three behind the striker are expected to be andres iniesta, isco and pedro, and in form juventus striker alvaro morata should lead the line in the expected xi only koke, mario suarez and juanfran have not already won the european cup and the strength in depth is evident with cesc fabregas, david silva and santi cazorla all pushing for a starting berth too add to these names, those of the injured diego costa, and long term absentees victor valdes, javi martinez and thiago, who will return as soon as they start playing for their clubs again and the squad still looks stronger than any other in europe with the possible exception of the world champions germany – no wonder del bosque is calling for optimism if there is a problem it may be the lack of a prolific scorer in costa’s absence – with 13 goals manchester city’s silva is this group’s top scorer but the goals can come from anywhere including the back four, and there is even talk of del bosque eventually recalling david villa so he can win the three remaining caps to take him to 100 silva is currently spain's top goal scorer at club level this season in the absence of diego costa  spain forward alvaro morata could lead the line on friday after his good form with juventus  sergio ramos (left) and cesc fabregas (right) in training at sevilla's stadium  ramos is set to feature in the game just over 10 years after he made his debut for spain as an 18 year old  all that remains is to move to the top of the group currently led by slovakia and to reignite the fire in the supporters who are still having nightmares about the defeat to holland in brazil spain have never lost at sevilla’s sanchez pizjuan in 24 games played there but on friday morning were still trying to sell the last 12,000 tickets of the 45,000 on sale for the game the match will be especially important for defender ramos who goes back to his home city one day after he clocked up ten years since his first appearance for spain in a friendly against china aged 18 in that decade, spain have never lost a competitive home game he was part of one golden generation – and wants to be part of another steady evolution is del bosque’s watchword ‘we kept a solid group of the players that brought us success in the past,’ he said on thursday ‘and we have new blood too if we bring a player in, it’s because we believe in him it’s not because we are experimenting’
spain ukraine euro 2016 friday night seville vicente del bosque france next year world cup last summer
spain face ukraine in euro 2016 qualifier on friday night in seville . vicente del bosque hoping to build a new golden generation . squad options suggest that spain will be contenders in france next year . his side still recovering from their world cup nightmare last summer 