Del Bosque keeps faith with Torres

With Spain having already qualified for the 2012 European Championships, courtesy of a 6-0 drubbing of Liechtenstein, its 2-0 win against the Czech Republic in Prague last Friday merely served to secure top spot in Group I and to further stamp Vicente del Bosque's side with the mantle of favorite ahead of the finals in Poland and Ukraine.

Spain has so far won all of its qualifying matches, scoring 23 and conceding just five in seven games. The Netherlands and Germany have also eased through the preliminary round without losing a match, while Italy, Greece and England are unbeaten up to this point. With passage to the finals sown up, Spain has little to play for in its final match against Scotland - quite in contrast to the visiting team. Craig Levein's team sits in second place a point ahead of the Czech Republic, which travels to Lithuania in search of a result that would knock Scotland from its temporary perch. A tie will suffice for the Czechs should Spain continue its heady form, due to its head-to-head record against Scotland. Some 15,000 fans are expected to descend on Alicante for the encounter and they will hope for the same sort of performance their team put on at Hampden Park where Scotland came from two goals down to almost snatch a point, only to be denied by a late winner by substitute Fernando Llorente.

All of which will not bother Del Bosque one iota; the Spain coach is already looking ahead to the finals and will likely give some of his fringe players a run out against Scotland. One of the men likely to be watching from the sidelines is Iker Casillas, who is one match short of equaling the record number of caps for Spain held by Andoni Zubizarreta, 126. "We all want him to complete his objective, but even the greats are generous and he has two excellent goalkeepers with him who also have the desire to play," Del Bosque said. It is likely that Barça stopper Víctor Valdés will make his Spain debut in an official match - at the age of 29. Such is Casillas' remarkable reliability.

Also on Del Bosque's agenda is Fernando Torres, whose form this year has seen Llorente leapfrog the Chelsea striker into the position of understudy to David Villa, a role also coveted by Álvaro Negredo, who scored a brace against Liechtenstein.

"You can't keep judging him constantly, you have to have a wider perspective. We have to be fair because there is a lot of competition. He has a history and a present. We brought him [into the current squad] because lately he has been playing better for his club. From here to the European Championships we will have to wait and see. We will take the players who are in the best form, with no privileges for anybody."

Torres has displayed flashes of his former brilliance recently, but also has shown signs of a deeper malaise that set in after he moved from Liverpool to Chelsea in January. The former Atlético striker has scored just three goals for his club since then and has not found the net for Spain in an official match in over a year. Torres has only hit the target for La Roja on 10 occasions since he netted the winning goal against Germany in the final of the 2008 European Championship - and five of those were against New Zealand and Liechtenstein.

However, Del Bosque has retained his faith in Torres and will likely start him against Scotland, as well as handing a debut to Valencia's Jordi Alba. Such is Spain's wealth of talent, though, that Scotland will be hard pressed to defeat the reigning champion on home soil.

"I'm sure they will make a few changes and give some of their players a rest, but those that take the field will be hungry to prove their worth," said Scotland captain Darren Fletcher. "The Spanish midfield is the best in the world, but the game is 11 against 11 and not midfield against midfield. We know Spain will have possession of 65 or 70 percent, but we will try and take advantage of our opportunities when we have it ourselves."