Cornella de Llobregat (Barcelona), 18 Mar The Spanish coach, Luis Enrique Martínez, warned that the upcoming matches against Albania and Iceland “although they seem like two friendlies, they are not” and urged the selected players to face them with “ambition and hunger”. After announcing the list of players called up for the two matches that will be played in Barcelona on 26 March and three days later in A Coruña, the Asturian coach appeared at the RCDE Stadium, the scene of the match against Albania, to assess the next two matches. “Since November the wait has been long. Even if they seem like two friendlies, they are not for me or for the players. The two parties will help me to see their level of ambition and hunger. They are very close to the World Cup and I hope that the players will take it seriously,” he said. The main novelty of the list is the entry of Brentford goalkeeper David Raya, of whom Luis Enrique said he “has the necessary profile” to be among the chosen ones and that he wants to “see” him in the context of the selection. One of the absences is that of Barcelona player Sergio Busquets, who the national coach wants him to rest so that he is 100% in next June's commitments, for the Nations League, against Portugal, the Czech Republic -twice- and Switzerland. “It is a personal decision, he is the player who accumulates the most minutes in his team with more than 3,000 minutes, I want to have the best version of Busquets for the month of June,” argued Luis Enrique, who described the season he is completing in Barcelona as “spectacular”. Luis Enrique also remembered Real Sociedad captain Mikel Oyarzabal, who will miss the rest of the season and the start of the next season after breaking the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. “We remember him at this delicate and hard time for a professional player. I'm sure he'll be quickly recovered. I send him a hug, encouragement and that we are waiting for him,” he added. Luis Enrique was also asked about Gerard Pique, who retired from the selection in 2018 after the World Cup in Russia, and about the possibility that he could count on the Barça central in the future. “He is a Spanish player and he meets any requirement to be able to come to the national team. If he wants and wants to, it could be,” he admitted. Other proper names for the appearance were Pedro González 'Pedri' - “he is intelligent and knows the way forward,” he said of the comparisons with Messi and Iniesta - and Espanyol player Raúl de Tomás, who “we are going to ask the same thing as the other strikers,” he said. Eighteen years after their last match, the national team will return to Catalonia. In this regard, Luis Enrique recalled that “anywhere in Spain is a good place to see the selection”. Finally, the coach took responsibility for the farewell of Jesús Casas, one of his assistants. “I am the most responsible for what happens in my coaching staff. The staff are constantly evolving, we have to adapt and that is what I am looking for”, he concluded. CHIEF vmc/og (photo) (video)