Madrid  -  Veteran Spain manager Luis Aragones has been forced to reveal his hand for Euro 2008 - for the most bizarre reason possible.

The Spanish football federation has taken very seriously the recommendation of UEFA that the players called up for the European Championship finals should be vaccinated against the meningoencephalitis virus.

This virus can be transmitted by Alpine ticks - the tournament is being staged in Austria and Switzerland - causes high fever and paralysis and is deadly in about 2 per cent of cases.

The Spanish federation has sent to clubs a list of players to be vaccinated.

This means that Aragones has been forced to reveal his hand regarding his possible squad ahead of time.

The wily 69 year-old manager would have preferred to have kept his cards closer to his chest, waiting until the last possible moment to name his 23-man squad.

Instead, the federation told him on Wednesday to put together a preliminary list, which would be sent to the respective clubs in order for the players to be vaccinated.

Aragones reluctantly gave the federation a list of 31 players, thus giving himself some space for manoeuvre - and raising the question which eight players will be axed.

The big news is that, as expected, Raul Gonzalez is not on the list.

The Real Madrid captain has worn the red shirt of Spain 102 times, but got on badly with Aragones at the 2006 World Cup finals and has not been picked since October
2006.

Raul, 31 in June, has been in good form this season and the Madrid media have orchestrated a campaign to have him reinstated in "La Seleccion", to the annoyance of the always touchy Aragones.

Young Valencia defender Raul Albiol, who was called up for the recent successful friendlies against France and Italy, is included.

There are two uncapped players on the list: Barcelona's 17 year-old sensation Bojan Krkic and midfielder Pablo Hernandez of Getafe, who missed Thursday's heart-breaking 3-3 UEFA Cup draw against Bayern Munich through injury.

The 31 players on Aragones' list are as follows:

GOALKEEPERS: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Jose Reina (Liverpool), Andres Palop (Sevilla)

DEFENDERS: Angel Lopez (Villarreal), Alvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Juanito Gutierrez (Betis), Raul Albiol
(Valencia), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Pablo Ibanez (Atletico Madrid), Walter Pernia (Atletico Madrid), Antonio Lopez (Atletico Madrid), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Fernando Navarro (Mallorca)

MIDFIELDERS: Marcos Senna (Villarreal), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona), David Albelda (Valencia), Andres Iniesta
(Barcelona), Ruben de la Red (Getafe), Pablo Hernandez (Getafe), Albert Riera (Espanyol)

FORWARDS: Joaquin Sanchez (Valencia), David Silva (Valencia), David Villa (Valencia), Bojan Krkic (Barcelona), Daniel Guiza (Mallorca), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Raul Tamudo (Espanyol), Luis Garcia (Espanyol) (dpa)