Brian Cipenga and Stefan Dzôdić, two key members of the UD Almería squad, have been called up by the senior national teams of their respective countries, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Serbia. As a result, neither player will be available for Almería’s next fixture against RCD Mallorca at the Mallorca Son Moix Stadium on Sunday.

Brian Cipenga will play 2 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, facing Equatorial Guinea in Kinshasa on Thursday, 24 September before travelling to Zimbabwe for the second fixture on Monday, 28 September. He will then return to Almería in time for the Matchday 8 fixtures, when the Rojiblancos host Burgos CF on Saturday, 3 October at 4.15pm.

Stefan Dzôdić, meanwhile, has received his first call-up to the Serbia senior national team, managed by Paunović, a former UD Almería player. Serbia have 4 UEFA Nations League fixtures scheduled against Greece on 24 September, the Netherlands on 27 September, Germany on 1 October and the Netherlands again on 4 October. The midfielder will therefore also miss the match against Burgos CF.

Quim Junyent will be available to García Pimienta again after serving his suspension following his red card against Córdoba CF. The midfielder has been included in Spain U20s provisional squad, although even if he receives a final call-up, he will not miss any matches for UD Almería.

Spain U20 are scheduled to face Mexico on Wednesday, 30 September. The match was originally due to be played in Ceuta, but the Spanish Football Federation has been forced to suspend the fixture there at the request of the Ministry of the Interior. The match is still expected to go ahead, but at a different venue.