"They don’t trust" - Manchester United legend Gary Neville claims Luis Enrique does not trust two defenders in Spain's FIFA World Cup squad

Manchester United legend Gary Neville believes Spain coach Luis Enrique doesn't trust Eric Garcia and Pau Torres despite picking them in his 2022 FIFA World Cup squad.

One of Garcia and Torres was expected to start La Roja's World Cup opener against Costa Rica on Wednesday (November 23). However, it was Manchester City midfielder Rodri Hernandez who was named alongside club teammate Aymeric Laporte on the teamsheet.

Rodri went on to play the entire 90 minutes of the game, with neither Torres nor Garcia getting onto the pitch. With Spain winning by a resounding 7-0 margin, there's little reason to think Enrique will tinker with his line-up unless one of the starters suffers an injury.

Neville believes the former Barcelona boss doesn't have much faith in Garcia and Torres. The former Manchester United right-back told ITV Sport (as quoted by HITC):

“Even at the back, you see Rodri there (at centre-back). They don’t trust Garcia. The boy that was at Manchester City, and is now back at Barcelona.

“They don’t trust Pau Torres. They don’t trust him.”

Pau Torres and Eric Garcia enjoyed decent starts to the 2022-23 club season prior to the FIFA World Cup-induced break.

The former played a crucial role as Villarreal qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League group stages. Torres also helped the Yellow Submarine keep six clean sheets in 13 La Liga appearances. They sit ninth in the standings, just three points of Athletic Bilbao in fourth place.

Meanwhile, Garcia struggled for Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League as they once again exited in the group stages. However, he looked much more solid in La Liga, helping the Blaugrana, who sit at the top of the table, record seven shutouts in his nine matches.

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Spain will take on Germany in their second 2022 FIFA World Cup encounter

Spain got their 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign off to a rousing start on Wednesday. In a tournament that has already seen Argentina and Germany suffer shock defeats, La Roja stamped their authority in tremendous fashion.

Luis Enrique's side were 3-0 up in the opening 30 minutes against Costa Rica thanks to Dani Olmo, Marco Asensio and Ferran Torres. Torres added a second less than 10 minutes after half-time before Pablo Gavi, Carlos Soler and Alvaro Morata also got on the scoresheet.

Next up, Spain will take on Germany, who lost their opening game of the FIFA World Cup 2-1 to Japan. A victory in this high-voltage November 27 clash could effectively seal the 2010 world champions' berth in the last 16.