Spain forward Diego Costa is out of the European champions’ opening Euro 2016 qualifier against Macedonia on Monday because of a thigh injury and has been replaced in the squad by teenager Munir el Haddadi.

Costa, who played 66 minutes of Spain’s 1-0 friendly defeat against France in Paris on Thursday, had tests in Madrid that revealed an injury in his left thigh, Spain said.

The test results would be sent to Costa’s club Chelsea and Spain medical staff had already been in touch with their counterparts at the Premier League side, they added.

The inclusion of Under-21 international Munir, who turned 19 on Monday, is something of a surprise as he only made his debut for Barcelona in their opening La Liga match at home to Elche last month, scoring in a 3-0 win.

Born near Madrid, he is of Moroccan origin and joined Barca’s youth academy in 2011.

Spain host Macedonia in Valencia on Monday and their qualification Group C also includes Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia and Luxembourg.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.