England vs Spain: Julen Lopetegui hails 'fantastic' Aritz Aduriz after unlikely run to first team

The 35-year-old Athletic Bilbao striker became Spain's oldest ever goalscorer on Saturday, and Lopetegui is thrilled by his contributions and so will start him against England on Tuesday.

Anyone who watched Spain storm to three consecutive major trophies remembers the cutting edge provided by David Villa and Fernando Torres up front, two players now coming to the end of their decorated careers. But Spain are likely to have a very different profile of centre-forward up front at Wembley on Tuesday night, a man who will be barely known to many English observers.

Aritz Aduriz is 35 years old and will be 36 in February. He is three years older than Torres and 10 months older than Villa. And yet now, in what should be the twilight of his career, he is making an unlikely run into Julen Lopetegui’s first team.

Aduriz has never been especially fast and is certainly not quick now. He is classical bustling Basque striker, in the manner of Julio Salinas, Ismael Urzaiz or Fernando Llorente. Like those three before him, his team is Athletic Bilbao, where he is in his third spell now. Since returning there four years ago he has scored goals at a better rate than he ever has done in his career to date. Aduriz has won the Zarra Trophy, for La Liga’s top Spanish goalscorer, in each of the last two seasons. What is most impressive about his remarkable Indian summer is that he is still improving, improving his La Liga goal tally in each of his last four seasons.

Many late-improving players miss the boat for international recognition but Aduriz has not. He made his international debut at 29 under Vicente del Bosque and was then forgotten about for six years. Del Bosque took him to Euro 2016 but he could not make an impression on a team which was running out of gas. It would have been easy to move on without him under new coach Julen Lopetegui, but he wanted to count on him too.  Aduriz has fired up this Spanish side and on Saturday he became their oldest ever goalscorer when he converted against Macedonia, at 35 years and 275 days.

Aduriz had always wanted to be a skier or a mountain-climber growing up, and was never especially keen on football, but his performances for Athletic and now for the national team have been one of the great stories in Spanish football in recent years. Lopetegui certainly loves him and broke into English for the only time in his press conference at Wembley last night to sing the praises of the veteran striker. “Aduriz is important to the rest of the group,” Lopetegui said, “because he is a fantastic professional.”

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Atletico unhappy with Suarez's attitude

Once Filipe Luis had decided to spread the image of his damaged right foot via his social networks, his club were more incensed with Luis Suarez's reaction to that than to the fact he had committed the foul that caused the injury in the first place.

The Uruguayan was unmoved by Luis' on-pitch antics to the disbelief of his compatriot Diego Godin and also while the Brazilian was still on the pitch.

Atletico Madrid are wise enough to understand that such tackles form a part of the game, and indeed Filipe Luis himself metered out a crunching tackle on his former teammate Arda Turan during proceedings.

However, what neither club nor player understand is that instead of apologising, Suarez has been allowed to disrespect his fellow player.

The rojiblancos collectively have eluded the controversy and not one spoke of Juanfran, Gabi, Stefan Savic or Fernando Torres commented on it during the mixed zone interviews after the game.

Behind closed doors, however, they were seething.

What hurts the most is Atleti having suffered three red cards in the last three visits to the Camp Nou, including Filipe himself, whilst everyone turns a blind eye to the repeated indiscretions of Suarez.

In the first leg of last seasons Champions League quarterfinals, he attacked Juanfran without the ball, first swinging a kick and secondly hitting him with his arm.

Theoretically he could've seen red twice for those challenges.

In the return leg at the Estadio Vicente Calderon shortly after, Diego Godin could barely see out of a black eye caused as a result of the elbow from Barcelona's No.9.

"This final is the biggest game of my life" - Fernando Torres

"I knew I was risking everything by coming back here to Atletico, but I knew this group were destined for somthing big and I wanted to be part of it".

Fernando Torres

Atletico Madrid's prodigal son spoke about his incredible journey that has come full circle and lead him along the yellow brick road to Saturday's Champions League final in Milan. He spoke to beIN SPORTS and the player tried to put into words what it would mean to triumph over Real Madrid and make history.

Torres discusses his departure as El Niño, his hero's return and why he thinks "this group is destined to do something momentous".

The return

"I knew I was risking everything by coming back here to Atletico Madrid, a lot of people thought it couldn't get better for me here, but I knew the group I was coming into. I knew this group were destined for somthing big and I wanted to be part of it".

The final in Milan

"This is the most important game of my life, a chance to write a page that has never been written in 113 years of Atlético's history. I have the chance to make my dream come true, a dream I had as a kid, to win this cup with this club".

Memories of Lisbon

"The past can only help you get better, we only think about Milan, which is the present".

El Niño the animated story

Torres was speaking at the launch of his official biography, told in cartoons that animate the biggest moments in a montous career.

Atletico looking to take title race into final weekend

Atletico Madrid travel to La Liga's basement club Levante for the penultimate game of the season on Sunday, looking to keep the pressure on leaders Barcelona.

Los Rojiblancos, fresh from a Champions League semi-final victory over Bayern Munich which set up a meeting with Real Madrid in the final, are level on points with the Blaugrana and only behind on the head-to-head rule.

Real sit one point further back.

They face a side in crisis with Levante six points adrift at the bottom and all but mathematically relegated.

Atleti are in stunning form heading into the match, having won six straight games.

However, despite their ominous position, Levante find themselves in decent form themselves having only lost three of their last six league outings.

Injuries and suspensions

Atletico have a clean bill of health, with the exception of experienced Portuguese midfielder Tiago who is out injured.

Diego Simeone played a weakened side during their 1-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano on Saturday, but it almost backfired on him, meaning the likes of Fernando Torres and Antoine Griezmann should return to the starting eleven.

As for Levante, injured fullback Tono, and suspended midfielder Jose Mari are the only players likely to miss out, meaning both sides will be at near full strength for the clash at Estadio Ciutat de Valencia.

History

Atletico won the corresponding fixture 1-0 in January, and overall enjoy a good record over Sunday's opponents.

In 19 meetings, Diego Simeone's side have won eleven, drawn five and lost three.

Player to watch - Saul Niguez

The 21-year-old midfielder has been a bright spark in a great season for the mattress makers, netting seven times.

His superb solo goal in the first leg against Bayern grabbed the world's attention, but Saul has been a vital cog in Simeone's machine all year long.

He could be key in such a pressure cooker environment despite his youth.

In a period of transition for La Roja, Saul's ability on the ball and education in the never say die, tactically organised philosophy of Simeone, makes him one for the future of the Spanish national team.

Triple Torres delight

Impressive goals, quality moves and a victory over a direct rival were all components of Atlético's performance against Sevilla in their second La Liga outing of the season. Aside from serious footballing matters, it was a noteworthy quirk that Diego Simeone sent out a starting line-up containing all three of the club's players that go by the name of Torres: Fernando ,Óliver and Juanfran.

Juanfran played with Fernando many times last season, while he also featured alongside Óliver before the midfielder was loaned out to Villarreal and subsequently Porto. Fernando and Óliver had never previously played together, however. Each and every member of the Torres trio is adored by supporters and expected to play a key role in the team's progress this season.