Del Bosque says “Torres had been a regular until recently, his inconsistency worries us.”

Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea takes the place of injured captain Iker Casillas, while Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez makes the 24-man squad despite nursing a leg injury.

Spain hosts Finland in Gijon on March 22 and then plays France in Paris four days later.

Spain and France are tied with seven points each at the top of Group I. Georgia has four points, Belarus three, and Finland one.

Complete list:

Goalkeepers: Victor Valdes (Barcelona), Pepe Reina (Liverpool/ING) and David de Gea (Manchester United/ING)

Defense: Sergio Ramos, Alvaro Arbeloa, Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea/ING) and Ignacio Monreal (Arsenal/ING).

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Arsenal/ING), Javi Garcia (Manchester City/ING), Jesus Navas (Sevilla) and ‘Isco’ Alarcon (Málaga).

Forwards: David Silva (Manchester City/ING), Pedro Rodriguez, David Villa (Barcelona), Juan Manuel Mata (Chelsea/ING) and Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla).

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Kevin-Prince Boateng gave Milan the lead in controversial circumstances in the 57th minute. Cristian Zapata appeared to handle Riccardo Montolivo’s assist in the buildup.

Barcelona players protested but to no avail and Gerard Pique was booked in the process.

Sulley Muntari sealed the win nine minutes from time with a well-worked goal.

Milan contained Barcelona’s potent attack impressively, allowing it just two shots on target all match.

Lionel Messi, kept quiet by Milan, had two late chances from free kicks and sent both shots well over the crossbar.

The result was a massive boost to Milan’s turnaround from a dreadful start to the season. Massimiliano Allegri’s side was 15th in the Italian league after eight games but has risen to third.

It still went into the home match as a firm underdog against a Barcelona side which has lost only twice all season in the league and in Europe.

“I think it was a great game,” Allegri said. “The lads deserved this win. We didn’t concede anything in defence and we had several chances. But it wasn’t perfect, we were a bit lacking with the last ball in the first half but the team grew in the second. I think this is an important victory which will put us through. We could even have won 3-0, but I understand tiredness set in a bit.

“This is everyone’s win, the players who played, those who didn’t, the staff … everyone.”

It was Barcelona’s first loss by two goals since a 3-1 defeat to Real Betis in the Spanish Cup on Jan. 19, 2011.

“It was harder than usual for us to score,” Barcelona assistant coach Jordi Roura said. “Milan was very organized, very strong in defence and that caused us a lot of problems. We were also playing on a pitch that wasn’t worthy of this competition. We controlled in the first half, we didn’t create chances but neither did they. Then their first goal really hurt us and it was then even harder.

“If there is a team that can come back it is us. This result isn’t disastrous. It’s really awful to lose 2-0, really bad. But I think this squad deserves faith. We are convinced we can progress, because we are playing at home (next month), because our fans will support us, and because we’re playing on our pitch, which is a pitch worthy of this competition.”

While the teams knew each other well having played each other four times last season, this was a much-changed Milan side after losing experienced players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Alessandro Nesta and Clarence Seedorf in the off-season.

Milan was also without Mario Balotelli, who was cup tied, and Robinho, Mathieu Flamini, Antonio Nocerino, Daniele Bonera, Luca Antonini and Nigel De Jong, who were all injured.

However, it was the Italian side which had the better opportunities in the first half and almost scored in the fifth minute when Muntari’s speculative volley from outside the area sailed narrowly over the crossbar.

Stephen El Shaarawy had a chance when he cut inside the right side of the area but Barcelona captain Carles Puyol tackled him as he was about to unleash a shot. From the resulting corner Boateng curled an effort just past the far post. Giampaolo Pazzini was a whisker away from connecting with what would have been a header into an empty net.

El Shaarawy won a free kick 10 minutes after the break when he was brought down by Dani Alves. It was squared to Montolivo, whose effort appeared to be handled by Zapata as it fell to Boateng, who swivelled and fired it into the bottom right corner.

Milan doubled its lead in the 81st. Substitute M’Baye Niang’s cross was flicked on by El Shaarawy to Muntari, who found himself in acres of space to volley past Victor Valdes.

Barca almost scored a valuable away goal late on, but Puyol headed a corner just wide of the left upright much to the satisfaction of spectator Novak Djokovic, the tennis star who is a fervent Milan fan.

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Fielding a lineup that featured nine Barcelona players, Spain had the bulk of the early possession and the best chances in the match in Doha. It took the lead in the 16th minute when a long strike from Cesc Fabregas went through the hands of Uruguay keeper Fernando Muslera.

Uruguay drew level in the 32nd minute when Cristian Rodriguez got behind two defenders and took a pass from Martin Caceres.

But in the second half, it was all Spain. Pedro gave Spain the lead in the 51st after taking a pass from substitute Gerard Pique, and added his second 24 minutes later.

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Recent months have seen the Madrid based media, in particular sports dailies AS and Marca, take an increasingly hard line on Mourinho, including some very heavy criticism of his both his professional and personal behaviour, which has included rows with Madrid reserve team coach Alberto Toril, goalkeeper Iker Casillas and Marca journalist Anton Meana.

Pique told journalists after training at Barcelona’s Ciutat Deportiva on Monday morning that he felt the storm of criticism had more to do with Madrid losing games on the pitch than any moral stance taken by the journalists.

“It makes me laugh because I remember that when Madrid won, Mourinho was allowed do anything,” Pique said. “He came here and poked Tito in the eye. How many games was he banned for? Zero. Now that Mourinho is taking on Iker, that he locked up a journalist [to yell at him], there is criticism. Mourinho has always been like this, ever since he arrived. He was allowed do anything.”

Pique also included Catalan papers such as Mundo Deportivo and Sport in his comments, saying that he did not think the media should just be a cheerleader for ‘their’ team.

“I do not think the press should act like this,” he said. “I am just saying this for Barcelona, but also for Madrid. Barca do not do everything well. But if you look at the front pages of Mundo Deportivo and Sport, it seems like the club does everything well. I say the same for both sides, for Madrid and for Barcelona.”

Pique also believes that injuries and suspensions were to blame for Madrid’s 0-0 draw at Osasuna on Saturday night, not bad coaching from Mourinho or a bad attitude from the players.

“It did not look to me like Madrid had thrown in La Liga,” he said. “They went without four or five very important players. I believe they had the right attitude. Madrid have never based their game on playing great football. They have intensity and ambition. They ‘eat up’ their opponent. You could see they missed their injured players.”

Barcelona took advantage of Madrid’s latest stumble to open up an 18 point gap on their rivals with Sunday’s 3-1 in Malaga, a game which completed a first half of the La Liga season with 18 wins and one draw in 19 games.

Pique said it was impossible to really say whether Tito Vilanova’s Barca side were better than that of Pep Guardiola in recent seasons, and anyway this year’s side had won nothing yet.

“There will be opinions for every taste,” he said. “I think we are playing really well. We have been at our most comfortable in these last games. But what counts is trying to win the three trophies (La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League). That is what we did with Pep (in 2008-09) and we will try to do it with Tito.”

Pique also suggested that the current Barca team had more tactical options than in previous seasons.

“We can play in various ways,” he said. “Tito has gone with more midfielders in the last games. The first year we won the treble we had a settled team, but I feel this year the team has more options. This year we have a very competitive squad.”

Such flexibility would be useful as Barca face into a busy spell, starting with Wednesday’s Copa del Rey quarter-final first leg at home to Malaga.

“The Copa del Rey and the Champions League will help us keep our rhythm going,” he added. “We are starting into Copa, Liga, Copa, and it will be non-stop. It is best for us to play every three days than every weekend. That everyone plays is very good for the team.”

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