England vs Spain: Diego Costa withdraws from squad for 'personal reasons'

Celta Vigo's Iago Aspas has been selected in his place

Monday 03 September 2018 15:39 BST
Comments
UEFA Nations League: How does the competition work?

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa has withdrawn from the Spain squad for the Nations League matches against England and Croatia, with Celta Vigo's Iago Aspas coming in as a replacement.

In a statement released on Monday, the Spanish Football Federation said Costa was "on leave for personal reasons".

Costa and Aspas, who were both part of Spain's World Cup squad over the summer, played against each other on Saturday as Atletico lost 2-0 at Celta.

Costa played the full duration of the LaLiga contest, in which Aspas netted the second goal.

Aspas scored in Spain's last meeting with England, a 2-2 draw at Wembley in November 2016.

Costa is out of the game at Wembley
Costa is out of the game at Wembley (AFP/Getty Images)

The teams face each other at the same venue on Saturday in what will be La Roja's first match under new boss Luis Enrique.

Spain then take on Croatia three days later at Elche's Estadio Martinez Valero.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in