Madrid - Fernando Torres has dismissed concerns the Spain players may be over-tired after a gruelling season as the world and European champions' squad for Friday's World Cup warm-up game against Bolivia gathered on Monday.
Most of the Spain team will be drawn from Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid and the three clubs were involved in a tense fight for the La Liga title that was only decided on the final day.
Real and Atletico also clashed in Saturday's Champions League final, when forward Diego Costa came off injured in the ninth minute and fullback Juanfran appeared to be struggling with an injury in the latter stages.
“It's true that the national team players have been competing until very recently,” Torres told reporters as he arrived at Spain's training base outside Madrid.
“But you forget the tiredness when you go to a World Cup and with Spain,” added the Chelsea forward, who will be competing in his third World Cup starting in Brazil next month if he makes coach Vicente del Bosque's final squad.
“It was the same with other tournaments in the past and it went well for us. The players from big clubs are used to having long seasons.”
Del Bosque's main injury concern will be Costa, who was struggling with niggling muscle problems in the final weeks of the La Liga and Champions League campaigns.
The Brazil-born forward had tests on Monday which revealed a tear to a thigh muscle and he will need around 15 days to recover, local media reported.
There was no official confirmation of the injury from the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) or Atletico.
Del Bosque has until June 2 to name his final 23-man squad and the Real and Atletico players selected will not join the rest of the players until then.
The 19 called up for Friday's game against Bolivia in Seville had medical checks before training on Monday and were all in “perfect” shape, the RFEF said on the national team's website (www.sefutbol.com).
Spain face Netherlands, Chile and Australia in Group B at the World Cup finals, which start on June 12 in Brazil.
Reuters