Spain´s World Cup stars miss awards ceremony

Spain’s 23-man World Cup-winning squad was awarded Friday a prestigious award but only coach Vicente del Bosque and ten players attended the glittering ceremony broadcast live on television.

The coaches of Real Madrid and Barcelona initially barred their Spanish internationals from attending the ceremony on the nothern city of Oviedo because it comes on the eve of league matches.

But in the end Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho relented and allowed Spain captain Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos to attend while Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola allowed Xavi Hernandez to make the trip.

The seven other members from the national team who attended the ceremony came from other clubs. They included Liverpool’s Pepe Reine, Athletic Bilbao’s Fernando Llorete and Valencia’s Juan Mata.

Del Bosque hailed the squad’s “effort, sacrifice, talent and discipline” as he collected the Prince of Asturias prize for sport in the name of the entire team in the presence of senior members of Spain’s royal family.

“The players who won the World Cup were faithful to these values, as well as to the values of sportsmanship and honour. By defending these values they achieved victory. It would not have been possible any other way,” he added.

There were five Real players, and eight from Barcelona, in total in the Spain squad which won the World Cup in South Africa for the first time in the country’s history.

Among those who missed the ceremony was Barcelona striker David Villa, Spain’s top scorer in the World Cup, and the club’s winger Andres Iniesta, who scored the winner during Spain’s 1-0 defeat of the Netherlands in the final.

Del Bosque refused to be drawn into the controversy over the absence of key players from the awards ceremony.

“We should not demonise Mourinho or Guardiola because they did not let all the players come. I am sure they did what was possible to cooperate with the national team,” he told reporters on Thursday when he arrived in Oviedo.

Real hosts Racing Santander on Saturday in La Liga while Barcelona travels to Zaragoza.

Eight Prince of Asturias awards are granted each year in categories including arts, literature, communications, sports and scientific research.

Named after Spain’s Crown Prince Felipe, they are presented each October in Oviedo in a ceremony broadcast live in Spanish television.

The Prince of Asturias prize for sport was awarded last year to Russian pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva.

Past winners have also included Spanish tennis ace Rafael Nadal, Germany’s seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher, retired US athletics great Carl Lewis and US naturalised Czech-born tennis ace Martina Navratilova.