BARCELONA — Spain captain Carles Puyol said Wednesday impending knee surgery will rule him out of the Euro 2012 squad but he is not ready to end his international career.

The 34-year-old Barcelona defender, whose header against Germany famously took Spain into the final of a victorious 2010 World Cup campaign, said he expects to undergo the operation Saturday.

Asked if he could still join the Euro squad, he told a news conference: “It would be very difficult. Those who are fittest have to go. It would be unfair to take a player who is not at 100 percent.”

Puyol said he would have to wait to see how the operation goes: “But I think it is impossible.”

The long-haired defender is to undergo a knee arthroscopy, in which a tiny camera is inserted through small incisions and damaged tissue can be repaired or removed. He faces a six-week recovery. Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has said he will release a provisional lineup on May 15 for the team going to Poland and Ukraine. — AFP