Bring on England, Spain boss Lopetegui asserts

Spain manager Julen Lopetegui says his side are looking forward to a ‘beautiful’ game against England.

Speaking after a 4-0 World Cup qualifying win over Macadonia, Lopetegui was turning his attention towards facing the Three Lions on Tuesday at Wembley but described the win against Macedonia as “the sirloin of the week.”

“Three points on the board tonight and as I said it was the sirloin of the week [the most important game] . We have now ahead a beautiful game, in a wonderful venue as Wembley is, facing a national team with big players. They are performing well lately, but we will go thinking about playing a great game, competing well and trying to win the match.

“Whoever plays in the team, it is not going to be focused on giving chances to the players. I have to think about making the best starting 11 because every player who is here have the skills to play this game,” the Spain boss asserted.

The 50-year-old added that he will not be using the game to experiment with new players, but instead to play his best possible XI.

“We will start planning Wembley’s game from tonight. We will take the decisions soon but as I said before, we will try to make the best and most competitive team we can.

“I am sure whoever it plays it will be competitive. Everyone who has come here have come because we think they can give us the best and they can play anytime,” Lopetegui who took over from Vincente Del Bosque following the dethronement of Spain as champions of Europe in the summer added.

“Jose (Callejon) was called up last time as well. We are delighted with him and he managed to get some minutes tonight. They were only a few minutes, but others didnt get the chance. We are very happy with him, with his output. It is a player who is always in our mind for selection.”

Both Spain and England are unbeaten in their respective 2018 World Cup Qualifying campaigns-to-date, with England defeating Scotland 3-0 on Friday night.