End of an era as Real Madrid captain left out of Spain preliminary squad for World Cup | OneFootball

The difficult final months of Dani Carvajal’s career have taken another painful turn after the Real Madrid captain was left out of Spain national team’s preliminary World Cup plans.

As such, Carvajal has not been included in the extended 55-player pre-selection list prepared by Spain manager Luis de la Fuente, dealing a major blow to the veteran full-back’s hopes of representing his country for the final time in his career.

For the experienced defender, the news only deepens what has already become an extremely emotional and frustrating period.

Double blow for Carvajal

Carvajal has known for some time that Real Madrid do not intend to renew his contract beyond this summer. 

With his current deal approaching its end, the Spaniard is now preparing for what increasingly looks like the closing chapter of his long and successful spell at the Santiago Bernabéu.

The timing of everything has made the situation even more difficult, as injuries have heavily disrupted Carvajal’s season, preventing him from building any rhythm or consistency during the campaign. 

Physical problems repeatedly kept him sidelined and significantly reduced his role within the squad at a stage where Real Madrid were already struggling collectively.

Across all competitions, Carvajal has managed only 20 appearances this season, accumulating just 885 minutes on the pitch.

This is a dramatic decline for a player who spent years as one of the most reliable figures in both Real Madrid and Spain’s setup.

There was hope

Despite those struggles, De la Fuente had publicly continued backing the defender and appeared eager to avoid completely closing the door on his international future.

Speaking about Carvajal’s importance within the national team environment, the Spain manager had said, “Carvajal is a very important figure in our locker room, a captain in capital letters.

“We love him and we will be looking forward to his recovery. I talked to him yesterday and I know what’s going on.

“His injury is nothing serious, but he needs time to reach the level he has.”

Those comments initially gave hope that the experienced defender could still fight his way back into contention during the final stretch of the season.

However, despite publicly remaining supportive, it now appears De la Fuente had already made his decision internally regarding the World Cup squad.