Spain coach Vicente del Bosque is hopeful Diego Costa will recover from a leg muscle injury in time to feature at the World Cup but believes the world and European champions have plenty of back-up if he doesn’t make it.
Forward Costa, who plays his club football with Atletico Madrid, has been struggling with a series of niggles in recent weeks and was forced off in the ninth minute of Saturday’s Champions League final against Real Madrid.
“He has a muscle injury and we will monitor his development so we can make a last-minute decision,” Del Bosque said on Spanish radio.
“We have until June 2 to register the (final) squad of 23 and we don’t need to rush,” he added.
“I hope he makes it but we have good replacements.”
If Brazil-born Costa is unable to make the trip to his native country for the finals starting next month, Del Bosque has several players available with a similar profile, including Fernando Torres, Alvaro Negredo and Fernando Llorente.
As well as Costa, winger Jesus Navas and right-back Juanfran are injury concerns and Del Bosque has already called up Gerard Deulofeu as cover if Navas does not recover in time.
Spain play a World Cup warm-up against Bolivia in Seville on Friday, after which the Real and Atletico players selected for the finals will join up with the squad.