It is going to be a dressing room of mixed emotions as former Arsenal captain and current Chelsea benchwarmer Cesc Fabregas has been excluded from the Spanish national team picked by new head coach Julen Lopetegui for upcoming games against against Belgium (friendly) and Liechtenstein (World Cup Qualifier).

Chelsea's prolific yet often controversial hitman Diego Costa has been recalled to the national team, however, his fellow Spanish forward in the Chelsea dressing room Pedro has also been dumped. A fourth Spaniard in the Chelsea ranks, Cesar Azpilicueta, retains his place.

Real Madrid's attacking midfielder Isco will not play in the La Liga game on Saturday against Celta Vigo due to a sprained ankle. Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane acknowledged in a press conference on Friday that Isco will not play on Saturday because of injury, reports Efe.

Spain's Ruth Beitia surprised the field to win her first outdoor high jump event at the age of 37 at the Rio Olympics. The Spaniard took the gold medal on a count-back after being one of four competitors with a best leap of 1.97m on Saturday.

As Mirela Demireva of Bulgaria, Blanka Vlasic of Croatia and Chaunte Lowe of the US all posted a best effort of 1.97m, Beitia came out the sole jumper succeeding in all her efforts of 1.88, 1.93 and 1.97 metres on her first attempts. Demireva took the silver after failing her first attempt on 1.88, while Vlasic settled for a bronze with failure on all her first attempts of three heights.

The powerhouse United States women's basketball team was nearly as dominant in the final as it was in every other contest at the Rio Games, winning its sixth straight Olympic gold with a 101-72 victory over Spain on Saturday.

Spain, which secured its first every medal in this competition with a convincing 68-54 win over Serbia in Thursday semi-finals, was competitive with the Americans in the early going and only trailed 21-17 after the first quarter.

Spanish football club Atletico Madrid's coach Diego Simeone has said top club coaches like Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho among others should be allowed to manage their nations alongside their day jobs.

Simeone has long been linked with Argentina national team's job but Edgardo Bauza was recently named as the coach.

Indian shuttler P.V. Sindhu was forced to settle for silver at the Rio Olympics after being beaten 21-19, 12-21, 15-21 by World No.1 Carolina Marin of Spain in the badminton women's singles event on Friday. Sindhu's silver is India's second medal at the Rio Games after wrestler Sakshi Malik bagged bronze in the women's 58 kilogram category on Wednesday.

Sindhu also became the first Indian woman to win silver at any discipline at the Olympics.

Newly-appointed Spain football coach Julen Lopetegui on Thursday dropped a big hint that Iker Casillas' record-setting 167 game-career as the national goalkeeper has come to an end.

Casillas was forced to sit in the dugout during the Euro 2016 as former coach Vicente Del Bosque put his trust in Manchester United's David de Gea for first team duty.