Cazorla, along with fellow new face Sergio Garcia of Real Zaragoza, was the shock inclusion in Spain coach Luis Aragones' 23-man squad, which was announced on Saturday.

There had been media speculation in recent days that Cazorla and Sergio Garcia were in line for a place in the squad, but the 23-year-old Villarreal man admitted he was still shocked after joining club-mates Joan Capdevila and Marcos Senna in the travelling party.

"It has surprised me a lot. I am very happy, it is the best moment of my career. It is a dream and now I am in the clouds, everything has happened so quickly," said Cazorla, whose call-up is reward for a fine season at Villarreal, who he has helped to a second-place finish in La Liga.

"It is thanks to the club that I can go to the European Championships," Cazorla added in Marca.

"We have had a great year. Much of the merit for my selection must go to Villarreal."

Zaragoza have not had such a great season and they will be relegated to the Segunda Division if they lose their final game of the campaign against Real Mallorca on Sunday, but despite that striker Sergio Garcia has done enough to catch Aragones' eye.

The 24-year-old former Barcelona striker was selected ahead of the likes of Raul Tamudo, Luis Garcia, Fernando Morientes and Spain's all-time record goalscorer Raul, and he is thrilled to have been given the chance.

"You always dream of being there and it has happened to me now. It is the best you can hope for. I am going to give it everything and I hope that we go far," Sergio Garcia said.

Coach Aragones said of the two new faces: "They are two of the footballers who we have been following, who have had an excellent end of season, who have quality and who have shown it."

Aside from Cazorla and Sergio Garcia, Aragones has also included three other players without any international experience in Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop, Mallorca defender Fernando Navarro and Getafe midfielder Ruben de la Red.

And of the 23-man squad, only eight of the players featured at Euro 2004.

As expected there was no place for Real Madrid captain Raul, while Valencia midfielder David Albelda, Barcelona youngster Bojan Krkic and Espanyol winger Albert Riera were also omitted.

Also absent from the list of 31 players who last month were called for vaccination were Atletico Madrid defenders Pablo Ibanez, Mariano Pernia and Antonio Lopez, Valencia winger Joaquin, Villarreal's Angel Lopez and Pablo Hernandez of Getafe.

Raul's exclusion was anticipated with the record-breaking striker not having featured for Spain since 2006, while 17-year-old Barca striker Bojan had ruled himself out of the reckoning earlier this week citing exhaustion.

Aragones said of Raul's omission: "In the end, we have left out Raul and that's that.

"It is not a question of more or less goals, or which club they play at, because there are others who have that and they haven't been called up either.

"We made our choices in relation to the from that the players have had in many games and it is I, as the coach, who fortunately or unfortunately has to choose and I have chosen."

Spain have scheduled two friendlies before they depart for the European Championships, facing Peru in Huelva on May 31 and the United States in Santander on June 4.

Aragones' side then begin the tournament in Group D against Russia on June 10, before facing Sweden on June 14 and then defending champions Greece four days later.