Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque yesterday named six uncapped players in his squad for the friendlies against Serbia and South Korea ahead of the European Championships this summer.

Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea was today handed a maiden call-up to the Spain squad for the friendlies against Serbia and South Korea which precede this summer’s European Championships.

MATTHIAS KESSLER produced a strong finish to win an action-packed third stage of the Tour de France yesterday as world champion Tom Boonen claimed the yellow jersey.

Spanish writer Lucia Etxebarria has won Spain’s most lucrative literary award, the Premio Planeta, with the novel Un Milagro en Equilibrio (A Miracle in Equilibrium) in which a mother writes a long letter to her newborn daughter.