Sadiq called up to Nigeria senior team and Ramazani to Belgium U21 squad
Shortlisted Cuenca and Morlanes are to find out next Monday whether or not they will participate in the European U21 Championship in Slovenia
UD Almería top scorer and talisman Umar Sadiq has been called up to the Nigeria senior team to participate in two qualifying matches for the Africa Cup of Nations against the Republic of Benin on Saturday, 27 March and versus Lesotho on Tuesday, 30 March. As a result, the Nigerian goal-machine will miss a couple of LaLiga SmartBank fixtures against CD Leganés (27 or 28 March) and Malaga CF (30/31 March or 1 April).
In addition, youngster Ramazani has also been called up for international duty to the Belgium Under-21s squad ahead of the two games to be played on 23 and 27 March. Last but not least, both centre-back Jorge Cuenca and midfielder Manu Morlanes, who have been shortlisted for the European Under-21s Championship group stage at the end of March in Slovenia, are to find out next Monday whether or not they will be called up for duty.
All of them are expected to be available for the match that UD Almería play on Sunday 21 March in Ponferrada (kick-off 2:00 p.m. CET), and the internationals will travel to their respective destinations from León city. The national-team match window is approaching and despite the top flight LaLiga will be interrupted, the second tier Segunda Division continues, so that neither CD Leganés, nor Malaga CF will fear Sadiq’s fancy footwork.
The same thing will happen with Cuenca and Morlanes if they are called up by national coach Luis de la Fuente to the Spain Under-21s squad. The Spanish team has been framed in Group ‘B’ and will be taking on hosts Slovenia, Italy and Czech Republic on 24/27/30 March respectively.