MADRID, June 7 (Xinhua) -- King Felipe VI of Spain visited the players of the Spanish football team on Thursday before they flew to Russia ahead of the World Cup finals.
King Felipe visited the squad at their training base at the headquarters of the Spanish Football Federation just outside of Madrid to wish them luck as they look to repeat their title winning feat of 2010.
The side coached by Julen Lopetegui, who replaced Vicente del Bosque as Spain coach after the 2016 European Championships, is unbeaten during the two years he has been in charge and is among the favorites for success in Russia.
The Spain players carried out a relaxed session before flying to Russia at 2pm local time.
Lopetegui's side will be based in the city of Krasnodar in the south-east of the country and will play a final warm-up game there against Tunisia on June 9th, before kicking off their World Cup campaign against Portugal in Sochi on June 15th.
25 players boarded the plane to Russia with defender Jesus Vallejo and midfielder Rodri Fernandez also travelling with the confirmed squad of 23. Right back Dani Carvajal is still struggling to recover from a hamstring injury and Rodri and Vallejo have travelled as a precaution in case he doesn't recover in time as FIFA rules permit a change to the official squad up to 24 hours before Spain's first match kicks off.
