Barrene and Joan Garcia: New Debutants

Following the debuts of Víctor Muñoz and Cristhian Mosquera in Vila-real against Serbia, the lucky newcomers on 31 March at the RCDE Stadium against Egypt (0-0) were Ander Barrenetxea and Joan Garcia.

Wearing number 26, Barrenetxea, the Real Sociedad winger, started the match and played 72 minutes before being replaced, to applause, by Yeremy Pino. In continuous progression, the San Sebastián-born forward—U19 European Champion with Spain in 2020—was rewarded for a strong season with the txuri-urdin squad, where he has now played over 220 top-flight matches.

Joan Garcia, the goalkeeper from Sallent (Barcelona), came on in the 62nd minute for David Raya, who also debuted at this stadium four years ago. Currently with FC Barcelona, Joan has represented Spain across all youth levels—U17, U18, U19—and at the Olympics, where he won gold in Paris. At 24, he continues to enjoy an outstanding individual campaign, establishing himself as one of Spain’s top goalkeepers.

With these two new caps, Luis de la Fuente has now given debut opportunities to 29 players since taking over the national team.