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The Spanish national team in Madrid is preparing for the European Championship qualifying tournament match against Lithuania, and local journalists speculate on who will take the place of the injured Fernando Torres in the main lineup.
Watching the trainings, football analysts can accurately predict the starting lineup for Friday's match in the city of Salamanca, where the world champions are expected to arrive on Thursday morning.
According to them, the renowned Iker Casillas will undoubtedly guard the goal, the full-back tandem will consist of Sergio Ramos and Joan Capdevila, and in the midfield, Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol will crush the Lithuanian attacks. However, the coach is closely monitoring Carlos Marchena, as Puyol is "fragile" due to a recently recovered injury.
In the center of the field, our team will have to fight with holding midfielder Sergio Busquets and main playmakers - Xabi Alonso and Andres Iniesta.
On the wings, there will be two Davids - Silva and Villa, while the battle for the center-forward position will be between Athletic Bilbao representative Fernando Llorente and newcomer to the national team Artizo Aduriz, who started the season very successfully with Valencia.
However, the more experienced Llorente is considered the favorite in this match, whose playing style, according to analysts, is more suitable to break the commendable defense of the Lithuanian national team.
Potential tactical lineup of the Spanish national team in the match against Lithuania: [image]
Potential tactical lineup of the Lithuanian national team in the match against Spain:
Lithuanian national team strategist Raimondas Žutautas is likely to trust the same footballers who sensationally defeated the Czech Republic away last month.
However, Ramūnas Radavičius cannot be calm about his place in the lineup, as he faces competition from experienced Arūnas Klimavičius. Marius Žaliūkas will compete with Tadas Kijanskas for the position of center-back, but it is unlikely that the player negotiating a new contract with Edinburgh Hearts, who is not playing due to the stalled negotiations, will replace Kijanskas, who has earned the coach's trust.
Marius Stankevičius is expected to play in defense again, while the right-back position is contested by Saulius Mikoliūnas and Deividas Česnauskis.
Reliable Mindaugas Panka should remain in the center of the field next to Deividas Šemberas, and captain Tomas Danilevičius will support both the defenders and the often placed forward Darvydas Šernas.
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