The defender from Cordoba made his debut with an important victory against Norway (0-1)

Alfonso Pedraza is now officially the 21^st Villarreal player to pull on the Spanish national team shirt. The defender from Cordoba experienced one of the most important days of his professional career when he made his debut with ‘La Roja’ in the important win against Norway (0-1). The player came on in the 71st minute in place of Ferran Torres.

In the same match, but defending the Norwegian jersey, Alexander Sorloth also took part. The Yellows striker, like his Villarreal team-mate, came on in the second half (59th minute) to try to turn the tide in a game that was already going in the Red and Whites’ favour. In his first match for Norway, Sorloth started, won and scored a goal against Cyprus (0-4).

The rest of Villarreal’s internationals also starred for their national teams. Ben Brereton started and played 80 minutes in the 2-0 home win over Peru in the South American World Cup qualifiers. Aïssa Mandi was also in the starting line-up and played most of the match against Cape Verde (5-1).

Similarly, Ilias Akhomach played for Spain U21 in the friendly against Uzbekistan (0-0).

The full international schedule is as follows:

Alfonso Pedraza (Spain) – EURO 24 qualifiers

• Norway 0-1 Spain

Ben Brereton (Chile) – World Cup qualifiers

• Chile 2-0 Peru
• Venezuela vs Chile: Tuesday 17^th October, 11pm CEST, Estadio Monumental de Maturín (Venezuela)

Alexander Sorloth (Norway) – EURO 24 qualifiers

• Cyprus 0-4 Norway
• Norway 0-1 Spain

Aïssa Mandi (Algeria) – Friendlies

• Algeria 5-1 Cape Verde
• Algeria vs Egypt: Monday 16^th October, 6pm CEST, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium (United Arab Emirates)

Filip Jorgensen (Denmarks U21s) – European U21s Championships qualifiers

• Czech Republic U21s vs Denmark U21s: Tuesday 17^th October, 6pm CEST, Fotbalovy stadion Strelecky Ostrov (Czech Republic)

Ilias Akhomach (Spain U21s) – European U21s Championships qualifiers

• Uzbekistan U21s 0-0 Spain U21s
• Kazakstan U21s vs Spain U21s: Tuesday 17^th October, 3:30pm CEST, Astana Arena (Kazakhstan)