{"id":29408,"date":"2026-05-25T16:14:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T16:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/29408\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T16:14:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T16:14:34","slug":"injured-lamine-yamal-and-nico-williams-in-spains-world-cup-squad-that-has-no-real-madrid-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/29408\/","title":{"rendered":"Injured Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams in Spain’s World Cup squad that has no Real Madrid players"},"content":{"rendered":"

MADRID (AP) \u2014 Injured forwards Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams were included Monday in Spain\u2019s World Cup<\/a> squad but, for the first time, La Roja won\u2019t be traveling with any Real Madrid players.<\/p>\n

Yamal<\/a> and Williams<\/a> sustained muscle injuries late in the season. Coach Luis de la Fuente, though, expects them to be fit for the start of soccer\u2019s showcase event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not going to speed up any process, we are in coordination with the clubs,\u201d De la Fuente said. \u201cThe information we have is that they will all be ready for the first or the second match. You always want to be careful, but if there\u2019s a time when the players may want to take risks, it\u2019s at the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spain opens its campaign against Cape Verde in Group H on June 15 in Atlanta. It then faces Saudi Arabia on June 21 in Atlanta and Uruguay on June 26 in Guadalajara, Mexico.<\/p>\n

Defender Dean Huijsen was among the Madrid players contending for a place in Spain\u2019s squad but he was left out. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t look at the clubs, these are national team players,\u201d De la Fuente said. \u201cThe only thing I want is for them to be proud of representing the national team. I don\u2019t look at it like maybe the fans may look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eight players are from Madrid rival Barcelona, the Spanish league champion for two years in a row. Madrid, meanwhile, endured its second consecutive season without a major title.<\/p>\n

Madrid will have players at the World Cup featuring for other nations, including France\u2019s Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, Brazil\u2019s Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior and England\u2019s Jude Bellingham.<\/p>\n

Barcelona midfielder Ferm\u00edn L\u00f3pez<\/a>, who sustained a fracture on his right foot this month, is sidelined for Spain as expected.<\/p>\n

Midfielder Mikel Merino, who played only once for Arsenal since injuring his foot in January, is back in the squad. Also included despite a recent injury is Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz. <\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s preparations will begin on Saturday. It plays warmup matches against Iraq on June 4 and Peru on June 9.<\/p>\n

It rebounded from a round-of-16 elimination by Morocco<\/a> at the 2022 World Cup by winning Euro 2024<\/a> in Germany. La Roja also won the 2023 Nations League<\/a> and was runner-up to Portugal<\/a> in the 2025 edition.<\/p>\n

Spain hasn\u2019t gone further than the last 16 in the World Cup since its lone title triumph in 2010.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Squad:<\/p>\n

Goalkeepers: Unai Sim\u00f3n (Athletic Bilbao), David Raya (Arsenal), Joan Garc\u00eda (Barcelona)<\/p>\n

Defenders: Marc Cucurella (Chelsea), Alejandro Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen), Marcos Llorente (Atletico Madrid), Pau Cubars\u00ed (Barcelona), Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao), Pedro Porro (Tottenham), Eric Garc\u00eda (Barcelona), Marc Pubill (Atletico Madrid)<\/p>\n

Midfielders: Rodri (Manchester City), Mart\u00edn Zubimendi (Arsenal), Pedri (Barcelona), Mikel Merino (Arsenal), Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz (Paris Saint-Germain), Gavi (Barcelona), \u00c1lex Baena (Atletico Madrid)<\/p>\n

Forwards: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Y\u00e9remi Pino (Crystal Palace), Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), V\u00edctor Mu\u00f1oz (Osasuna), Borja Iglesias (Celta Vigo), Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Dani Olmo (Barcelona), Ferran Torres (Barcelona)<\/p>\n

___ AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADRID (AP) \u2014 Injured forwards Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams were included Monday in Spain\u2019s World Cup squad…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4211,14719,830,11977,14717,10875,2324,4628,14766,939,7413,1882,3469,14718,223,934,3358,728,10535,6384,91,154,7980,1416,2900,14768,247,368,4690,9191,664,7842,83,14716,1437,1743,17,6551,396,5842,3691,14767],"class_list":["post-29408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-alejandro-grimaldo","tag-alex-fernandez","tag-arsenal-fc","tag-atlanta","tag-aymeric-laporte","tag-borja-iglesias","tag-ca-osasuna","tag-central-america","tag-crystal-palace-fc","tag-dani-olmo","tag-david-raya","tag-dean-huijsen","tag-eric-garca","tag-fabian-ruiz","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-ferran-torres","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-gavi","tag-guadalajara","tag-joan-garca","tag-jude-bellingham","tag-latin-america","tag-marc-cucurella","tag-marc-pubill","tag-marcos-llorente","tag-martn-zubimendi","tag-mexico","tag-mikel-merino","tag-mikel-oyarzabal","tag-nicholas-williams","tag-pedri","tag-pedro-porro","tag-real-madrid","tag-rodrigo-hernandez","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-soccer","tag-spain","tag-spain-national-soccer-team","tag-sports","tag-unai-simon","tag-uruguay","tag-vctor-muoz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}