The entourage that left the association's premises in Las Rozas at the gates of Madrid over the weekend was enormous.
Trolleys and bags and their owners were brought to the Aeropuerto Madrid-Barajas.
So many that it gave the impression that all the football players in Spain were going on an expedition of unprecedented proportions.
That was not the case, the travel destinations of the individual players differed significantly. The larger part of the group, 23 players, flew south to Seville, where Spain's Selección will play their first European Championship match against Sweden this Monday evening (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Football Championship, on ZDF and MagentaTV). The other 17, on the other hand, started their journey home. They were all members of the so-called B-squad that national coach Luis Enrique had ordered to the headquarters as a precaution after the events of the past week.
The big question for the Spaniards was: who would make it into the squad in the end? Or to put it better: Who would be available at all? Behind Spain lies a turbulent preparation. It all started with a positive corona test from team captain Sergio Busquets. The midfielder of FC Barcelona immediately went into quarantine, another, initially positive test at Diego Llorente was not confirmed. All other tests were negative as well. So no problem? Not at all.
The players could not train together for days, there were only individual sessions and virtual meetings as precautionary measures, and parallel to this, a heated debate began in the country about the treatment of top athletes in connection with vaccination prioritization. The Spanish association RFEF complained that the national health authority had tried to vaccinate the national players three months ago in order to avoid cases like Busquets' now. But one was rejected with reference to the urgency to vaccinate other population groups.
After the captain's positive test, the authorities gave in, but this immediately led to massive criticism from politics and society. The Catalan politician Aina Vidal expressed her incomprehension particularly sharply. In the national team, there are only eleven men who kick a ball, she said. In Spain, just under 45 percent of the population have had a primary vaccination so far. Too few from Vidal's point of view to prefer the national team. National coach Luis Enrique, himself not necessarily endowed with qualities for a later diplomatic career, responded in his own way. "Equanimity is one of the sharpest weapons," he called after Vidal.
On Friday, the doctors arrived in the Spanish quarter to vaccinate all national players who had not yet received any immunization. Everyone was allowed to choose the vaccine, which was also critically monitored. After the long back and forth of the authorities, Luis Enrique then had a problem with the vaccination date, which in his opinion was far too close to the opening game of the European Championship against Sweden. "I would be very annoyed if I had to do without a player because of possible vaccine reactions," he said.