Last-minute withdrawal for Barcelona defender

Barcelona centre-back Eric Garcia was a late withdrawal from Spain’s team to face England in the Nations League at Wembley on Saturday night after sustaining an injury in the warm-up.

The defender was one of five Barcelona players named in the starting XI by manager Luis de la Fuente for the match but was replaced just before kick-off by Marc Pubill.

A statement on the Spain team’s X page read: “Change to the @SEFutbol starting XI. Marc Pubill will take Eric Garcia’s place due to left knee discomfort.”

Precaution hoped for international break

Garcia seemed to pick up the problem during the warm-up and the hope is that it’s a precautionary measure from manager Luis de la Fuente and that he’s not set for some time on the sidelines.

Spain still have three more games to play over the international break. The world champions go on to face Croatia on Tuesday, Czechia next Saturday and then Croatia again on Tuesday, October 6th.