Spain XI vs. Catalonia XI: Breaking Down Who Would Win

Catalonia is in the news after pro-independence parties won a majority of seats in regional elections over the weekend. As CNBC's Holly Ellyatt reported, the election results have put Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy under pressure to keep his country united before a nationwide election set for December. 

We'll leave the politics to the experts and instead look at an intriguing hypothetical question: Which side would win if an independent Catalonia played Spain in an international football match?

We can't know for sure until the teams actually play, but we've taken a look at the two teams and made a subjective guess at the result.

Keep reading to find out what we predicted.

Goalkeepers

Jon Super/Associated Press

Goalkeeper is a potentially tricky spot to fill for Catalonia.

Kiko Casilla moved from Espanyol to Real Madrid in the summer but hasn't made a competitive appearance for the capital club. Jordi Masip has made only one senior appearance for Barcelona. Jordi Codina hasn't played for APOEL since joining the Cypriot club in June.

Meanwhile, Victor Valdes is an experienced goalkeeper but has barely played since joining Manchester United in January. He currently appears to be out of favor with manager Louis van Gaal.

So who starts? Casilla has the most experience in recent seasons, but Valdes might get the nod based on his name and familiarity with many of Barcelona's players. We'll go with Valdes for those reasons.

Who starts for Spain?

Iker Casillas started Spain's recent 2-0 win over Slovakia in Euro 2016 qualifying. But a few days later, David De Gea took over in goal for the victory over Macedonia.

Casillas is a legend for both Spain and Real Madrid, his former club. But De Gea is the goalkeeper of the future. After a weird summer that involved a failed transfer saga, he's now playing consistently with Manchester United again.

Edge: Spain. De Gea has the potential to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world, if he's not already there.

Defenders

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The back line is where Spain's and Catalonia's squads start to overlap quite a bit. 

Gerard Pique (center-back), Marc Bartra (center-back), Jordi Alba (left-back) and Martin Montoya (right-back) all go with Catalonia, so we can't use them for Spain. All four play for Barcelona, so they would bring a solid sense of camaraderie to the Catalan back four.

Spain would still have a top player in Sergio Ramos at center-back, but after losing Pique, Ramos' partner might have to be one of Mikel San Jose (Athletic Bilbao) or Raul Albiol (Napoli). San Jose is four years younger and can play in both central defense and central midfield, so we'll give him the nod. 

At right-back, Spain's options include Dani Carvajal and Juanfran. Both played there in recent qualifiers, so it's essentially a tossup that might be decided by club loyalties. We'll go with Carvajal since he played the most recent game at right-back.

At left-back, options include Bayern Munich's Juan Bernat and Chelsea's Cesar Azpilicueta. This is another tough choice, but Azpilicueta has 10 caps to Bernat's seven, so we'll go with the (slightly) more experienced international.

Edge: Catalonia. As noted above, all four members of the Catalan back line play for Barcelona. This would create cohesion in defense. Spain's back line, meanwhile, feels a bit makeshift with all the Catalan players missing.

Midfielders

Jose Vicente/Associated Press

Spain played a 4-3-3 formation in both of their Euro 2016 qualifiers in September, so that's the formation we'll use here. We'll opt for the same formation with Catalonia, owing in part to the fact that the team will include so many players from Barcelona, who use the same setup. 

As ever, Spain have many options in midfield, even without Cesc Fabregas and Sergio Busquets, who are Catalan. The problem, however, is replacing Busquets' defensive contribution. 

Saul Niguez, Mario Suarez, Bruno Soriano, Ignacio Camacho and Ander Iturraspe could potentially fill the hole, but none of them have much in the way of international experience. Santi Cazorla has played a deeper role for Arsenal in recent times, but he's hardly what you'd have in mind as a midfield destroyer.

So who plays? Since this is a hypothetical team anyway (missing the Catalan players), it might be best to just select three top midfielders who can attack, attack and attack some more. Spain are spoiled for choice here. Andres Iniesta is in, along with David Silva and Koke.

Profuse apologies to fans of Santi Cazorla, Juan Mata and Isco: All are worthy of selection, but there simply isn't enough room in the midfield for all of them. 

Catalonia's midfield pretty much selects itself. Busquets and Fabregas go into the squad, and even though Xavi is well past his prime, it's still just too difficult to imagine him not playing in a hypothetical match between Spain and Catalonia.

Slight edge: Spain. How do you choose between those midfields? Spain might have a slight advantage due to Xavi's age.

Forwards

Jose Vicente/Associated Press

Remember how there wasn't enough room in Spain's midfield? Well, that should help us here.

Juan Mata, who didn't have a place in midfield, can start as a wide attacker for Spain. Admittedly, so could David Silva, and in practice, many of these positions would be fluid once the game started.

One player who would have a clearly defined role is Diego Costa, Spain's and Chelsea's antagonist-in-chief who is an easy choice for center-forward. To his right, we'll select Chelsea's Pedro, a player who knows plenty of Catalonia's players from his days with Barcelona.

Picking Catalonia's forward line is quite tricky. Plenty of good players are available for selection, but they aren't of the same top, top quality as some other parts of the squad.

For our purposes, we'll select Alvaro Vazquez, who can play as a center-forward and scored twice over the weekend for Getafe against Levante. On the left, we'll opt for Bojan Krkic, who admittedly hasn't quite lived up to his enormous potential. And on the right, it's Gerard Deulofeu, who will bring a direct style to the team.

Edge: Spain. In this area, Spain simply have more quality.

Who Wins?

Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

This was a surprisingly tough call, but there was only one answer in the end.

Both teams have several top players, and Catalonia's back four all play together at Barcelona. Even though the Catalonian national team plays together only rarely, it would be a formidable opponent.

But even so, Spain have more quality throughout the squad. It starts at goalkeeper and proceeds through the midfield and forward line. Even without all the talented Catalan players, Spain still have loads of quality in the team. Furthermore, it's hard to see where Catalonia would find enough goals to keep up.

Hypothetical prediction: In a match filled with national pride, Catalonia would take the lead on a set piece, with Gerard Pique scoring on a header. Spain would equalize before halftime through Diego Costa, with David Silva assisting. Sergio Ramos would then head in the winner in the second half from a free-kick. Spain 2-1 Catalonia.

How do you think the match would play out? Let us know in the comments.