Santi Cazorla has described his return to the Spain squad as “unthinkable”, 1,299 days after he last played for the national side, and admitted it took a few days to overcome the “shock” of getting a call-up aged 34.

“I just wanted to play football again,” he said. Now he is in the squad that travels to the Faroe Islands for Friday’s European Championship qualifier and faces Sweden at the Santiago Bernabéu on Monday. Although his story is an extraordinary, inspirational one, he is there on merit alone.

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Cazorla has not been in the Spain team since they defeated England 2-0 in Alicante in November 2015. He scored the second goal that night and was due to travel to Wembley the following November but he struggled with knee and ankle injuries going back to 2013 and subsequently went two years without playing, suffering an infection in his heel that ate away 10cm of his tendon, left his bone “like plasticine” and threatened to finish his career and see him lose his leg.

He underwent 10 operations, leaving him with a bit of his forearm grafted on to his right ankle, a piece of thigh in its place, part of his calf in his heel, and rolled up hamstring replacing the rotten achilles. He was told to settle for being able to walk around the garden, and was released by Arsenal. His last game had been against Ludogorets in October 2016.

This summer, though, Villarreal gave him an opportunity to continue his rehabilitation. During pre-season he played for the first time in 636 days and was then offered a contract. Now, after a campaign in which he played 46 times, making 30 starts in the league, he is back with Spain – 11 years and 77 caps after his debut.

At Spain’s Las Rozas HQ, Cazorla was asked whether he could have imagined this two years ago. “Unthinkable,” he said. “Playing a single game at a top level was a very long way off so imagine [playing for] the national team. This was difficult for me to take in: it’s unexpected after everything. Now I take it as a new challenge, a new hope.

“I’m here for purely sporting reasons. They said that to me: it’s what you bring,” Cazorla continued. “Maybe it’s more special in my case, because of the injury, but that’s not the reason I’m here although it could be an example for players my age: don’t give up.

“There have been all sorts of moments, times you consider throwing in the towel, but I knew it was a long run and if I didn’t make it, I didn’t want to blame myself or think I could have done more. There were [negative] things said to me that I didn’t treat as important: I took this on with optimism, tried to leave the bad things behind, and I’ve had my reward.

“I always felt the support of everyone from Arsenal: if there’s something I’ve taken away from there above all else, it’s the fans’ affection. The thorn in my side, the regret, is not having been able to say goodbye on the pitch, the way I’d have liked.”