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Barcelona's Alejandro Balde replaces Jose Gaya in Spain World Cup Squad

Barcelona's Alejandro Balde replaces Jose Gaya in Spain World Cup Squad
© Reuters
Barcelona's Alejandro Balde replaces the injured Valencia defender Jose Gaya in Spain's World Cup squad.

Barcelona's Alejandro Balde has replaced Valencia's Jose Gaya in Spain's World Cup squad.

Gaya sprained his ankle in training on Wednesday and will be sidelined for around 10 days, meaning he would have missed the group stage.

According to ESPN, Luis Enrique had considered keeping Gaya in Qatar but on Friday decided to call up Balde, ahead of their opening game against Costa Rica on November 23.

Despite being a regular in Spain's youth teams, this is Balde's first senior call-up and he will challenge his club teammate Jordi Alba for the starting role at left-back.

The 19-year-old beat out another Barca teammate to make the squad in Marcos Alonso, who has played six times for Spain under Enrique, but Balde has emerged as a consistent figure in La Liga this season, starting 12 out of the 14 games under Xavi this year.

Spain get underway against Costa Rica on November 23 in Group E, before then facing Germany and Japan.

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Written by
George Priestman

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Jordi Alba in action for Barcelona in December 2021
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1Real Madrid21154250203049
2Atletico MadridAtletico21136235142145
3Barcelona21133559243542
4Athletic Bilbao21117331181340
5Villarreal219753932734
6Mallorca219391926-730
7Rayo Vallecano217862524129
8GironaGirona218492929028
9Real Sociedad218491717028
10Real BetisBetis217772326-328
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13Celta Vigo2174103033-325
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15Las PalmasLas Palmas2165102634-823
16Leganes215881929-1023
17AlavesAlaves2156102533-821
18Espanyol2155112033-1320
19Valencia2137112036-1616
20Real ValladolidValladolid2143141442-2815


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