Spain teammate plays down Gavi incident during 2026 World Cup camp | OneFootball

On Monday, a number of Barcelona stars will be in action when Spain take on Cape Verde in their first 2026 World Cup match. One of those in contention to start is Gavi, who battled back from two major knee surgeries to be named in Luis de la Fuente’s squad for the tournament in North America.

Gavi will face strong competition from a number of players for one of the starting spots in midfield, although he almost accidentally took one of them out of contention last week. Rodri Hernandez suffered an injury scare following a challenge in training from the Barcelona man, but fortunately, the Manchester City superstar is okay.

Over the weekend, Rodri was asked about that incident during an interview with El Larguero. He admitted that Gavi sometimes struggles to tone himself down at times, although that is one of the reasons why he is adored within the Spain camp.

“Yeah, he really gave me a hard time. We all know Gavi’s a bit of a hothead. He doesn’t hold back, he doesn’t have a filter. That’s something we like about his personality, although we try to tell him that training sessions are different from matches. I didn’t realise we were being filmed, but to be honest, I s*** himself (in case I was injured).”

Gavi will be hoping to make big impact for Spain at World Cup

Image via Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images

Gavi will be desperate to make his mark on the world stage this summer. He was forced to miss Spain’s successful Euro 2024 campaign after he tore his ACL and damaged his meniscus during a qualifier in November 2023, but this time, nothing can stand in his way.

It’ll be interesting to see whether he is given the nod by Spain head coach de la Fuente to start against Cape Verde, but he’s certainty in contention at this stage – as is Lamine Yamal, who’s fully recovered from the hamstring injury that ended his Barcelona season early.