David Villa will have until the last possible moment to prove his fitness for Spain’s European Championship defence this summer. Vicente Del Bosque will give the Barca forward every chance to make it to the Euros but understands that if he does decide to take him the Poland and Ukraine other members of the squad could be left rather upset.

Villa has not played since breaking his leg playing for Barca in the Club World Cup in December. He is now nearing a return to competitive action and despite his lack of match practice his club manager, Guardiola is urging Spain to take the risk and take the striker with them as they attempt to retain their crown as European champions.

Del Bosque understands that it will be a huge blow to whoever misses out should Villa be taken with the Spanish squad. He does though also understand that he and his team have “an obligation and conviction to wait until the last minute” when deciding who gets to go, Villa or one of their other collection of world class strikers.

The former Real Madrid coach has made it clear that his decision will be based solely on what he feels is right for his country and for his team. He will make his personal feelings redundant and ensure that using “both the head and the heart” he will make the decision that is the right one. “The National Team comes first” is the mantra he will be following in making all of his decisions before and throughout the championships.

Spain will take on Ireland, Croatia and Italy in their group. None of those games will be easy and it will not get any easier after that, should they get out of their group a game against one of England, Sweden, France or Ukraine  group will await in the first knock out game.