Spain defender Juanfran has defended Chelsea striker Diego Costa following criticism from Spanish press over his performances for the national side.
The former Atletico Madrid striker has been in superb form in the Premier League for new club Chelsea this season but has failed to live up to those performances for Spain, failing to score in his five international games.
The 26-year-old decided to play for Spain, despite having made two friendly appearances for Brazil, the country of his birth, but he failed to perform as Spain lost 2-1 to Slovakia on Thursday evening.
“He’s not getting the scoring chances he’s getting with his club team,” Juanfran told AS.
“He’s committed and sooner or later he will start scoring goals. We need to be patient with him. On Sunday [against Luxembourg], everything will be fine.”
Juanfran also said that it was unfair to blame Iker Casillas, despite the Real Madrid keeper making two mistakes.
“Their goalkeeper had the game of his life. I truly don’t believe we deserve to leave this stadium defeated,” he said.
“Sunday is a must-win game now. We are disappointed and we’ll go over it again and again tonight. But by the morning we’ll find the way to take the positives out of our display and we’ll look to take three points on Sunday. I don’t think we’ll treat this like it is the end of the world.”