Thiago Alcantara: ‘We're a hard-working team and we're hungry’

’s preparation for

was disrupted as

Sergio Busquets

tested positive for coronavirus last week, which forced the senior squad into isolation.

Diego Llorente also returned test results later turned out to be a false positive, while the Under-21 squad were used for the friendly game against Lithuania on Tuesday.

Fortunately, there have not been any further positive cases and the senior players will be given COVID-19 vaccination jabs on Friday. Therefore, it seems

Luis Enrique

is going to have a strong group available for selection against Sweden.

Thiago Alcantara

believes the Spain squad are desperate for Euro 2020 to begin.

"Football has changed. Beyond talent, it will be the teams who are best prepared who will compete. We're talking about the best players in Europe at the best tournament,” He told Marca.

"We've gotten used to playing under pressure. We're a very young team but used to that level of competition. The youngsters give us veterans a hunger to compete.

"There's another very important thing: we're very invested in what the coach asks of us. That comes from a long time ago, not from now. We're a hard-working team and we're hungry.

"I know [Luis Enrique] from the Barca youth system. He has very clear ideas. He loves the pressure after losing, possession... and winning, which is what we all want.

"The good thing about Luis is that he is always the same. He's no different depending on who he talks to."

The Liverpool midfielder also believes the Spain squad coped well with the news of Busquets.

"We're used to this situation. It's been a year and a half of living with COVID. We've been accustomed to training individually or collectively, but always with the objective of competing," he added.

"Fear was experienced in the first stage of the pandemic. It was an uncertainty on a global level. We didn't know what was going to happen.

"I was in Germany with my family and yes, there was that feeling of fear. Not here. We have great professionals around us and we comply with all the protocols they ask us to follow."

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