With only ten days until the European Championship starts, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy met with the national team that will travel to Poland and Ukraine to defend their title as European champions from 2008. 

"A victory will boost the morale," he told the players. "Spain needs something to be happy about in these difficult times that we are experiencing."

The national team will play the championship in times when the Spanish economy is going through one of its most difficult moments, with speculations that an international rescue is on its way, although Rajoy has denied it.

For the team, it is the first day that the Spanish coach Vicente del Bosque gathered all 23 players for their first training session, thus starting the countdown to their first game against Italy on June 10, a game Rajoy promised he will attend.

The prime minister's visit before important championships is a tradition from the beginning of the 1908s. Rajoy received a national team shirt with his name and number 10.

The Spanish national team

Here is the full Spanish team that del Bosque will bring to Poland and Ukraine:

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas, Pepe Reina and Victor Valdés.

Defenders: Álvaro Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos, Juanfran, Raúl Albiol, Jordi Alba, Gerard Piqué and Javier Martínez.

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso, Santi Cazorla, Jesús Navas, Xavi Hernández, Cesc Fábregas, Andrés Iniesta and Sergio Busquets.

Forwards: David Silva, Juan Mata, Fernando Torres, Pedro Rodríguez, Fernando Llorente and Álvaro Negredo.