Spain drop Alvaro Morata, recall Diego Costa

Alvaro Morata has been dropped from the Spanish national team

Striker Alvaro Morata has been left out of the Spain squad but Diego Costa, who he replaced at Chelsea, has been recalled for two friendly matches.

The 25-year-old has made 39 appearances for the Blues this season but has not scored for them in 2018.

Costa, who joined Atletico Madrid in September, has been recalled for the first time since June 2017.

Spain play Germany in Dusseldorf on 23 March before hosting Argentina in Madrid four days later.

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Morata’s domestic team-mate Marcos Alonso is also included in the 24-man squad.

The Chelsea forward earned his first call up for Spain on 7 November 2014 under manager Vicente del Bosque’s for matches against Belarus and Germany.

He made his debut against the former on the 15th, replacing Isco for the last ten minutes of a 3–0 win in Huelva for the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers; in the same competition, on 27 March 2015, he scored his first senior international goal, the only in a victory over Ukraine in Seville.

Selected for the finals in France, Morata started and scored a brace in a 3–0 group stage win against Turkey in Nice.

On 2 September 2017, coming from the bench in the 77th minute, Morata netted once to help the hosts defeat Italy 3–0 in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.