Gaspar, Cazorla score for Spain in win over England

England romped through their qualification campaign with a 100 percent record from their 10 games to bounce back from a hugely disappointing group stage exit at the 2014 World Cup.

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque was missing Sergio Ramos, Francisco “Isco” Alarcon, David Silva, Juanfran Torres and Dani Carvajal, among others, while England manager Roy Hodgson was without forwards Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Daniel Sturridge and Danny Welbeck and chose not to start Wayne Rooney. “We don’t know what to do”.

“We use counter-attacks with our very quick forwards and use that weapon, if you like”. The England captain’s temperament has been questioned after numerous disciplinary problems throughout his career, but Rooney says Costa should not water down his controversial style.

“We are going to be playing a few of Europe’s best teams and this is where we really get to see where we are in terms of the tournament in the summer”.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t and if he does we’re just going to have to deal with it and hope the referee deals with it like they do every week in the Premier League”.

England are expected to play France in another friendly tie at home and Carrick will miss the upcoming clash.

“I think he should play”, Rooney said with a smile when Hodgson deflected a reporter’s question about Carrick to his captain at a press briefing in the team hotel near Benidorm on Thursday.

“The (opening) goal came at the wrong time and gave Spain a deserved victory”, added Hodgson.

FA chief executive Martin Glenn told his French counterpart Noel Le Graet in the early hours of Saturday morning that he would have no complaints if the French Football Federation (FFF) did not want the game to go ahead.

“Obviously it hasn’t gone as well as it did last season for him but I think he is a fantastic player”, said the England skipper.

“I tried to finish off the attack and the ball just went where it had to go”, Gaspar said in an interview with Spanish television.

The Manchester United skipper said a good number of strikers in the squad is making it hard to make a cut in the starting XI.

“The midfield is already very, very depleted and (on Friday) we lost another player in Michael Carrick”.

Euro 2016 hosts France eased past rivals Germany 2-0 courtesy of goals from Olivier Giroud and Andre-Pierre Gignac in a match that saw the World Cup winners far from their best.