Luis de la Fuente‘s tone remains the same, slow, calm, neat, but one of the adjectives that previously accompanied him has changed its sign. He is no longer restrained or cautious. Now show the fang. The coach continues to call journalists by name in press conferences, talks about the Spanish team as a family and repeats mantras, my players are the best, my staff is the best… It happens that he has begun to air his demands and rant. .
De la Fuente talked about his book, that contract without improvements that he was promised in the chaos of the Federation, a true European champion. And then the torrent stopped. It was already said. He called off Lamine Yamal, according to his version, without interference from Barcelona, which was pressuring from other speakers. And he has warned that he will summon the best again in the coming windows.
The coach is showing personality where the outside sensed fragility or downward simplicity. He was asked in Córdoba, after an exceptional match for the national team, if he was enlarged. «It’s teamwork and so everything is easy. It’s not about being enlarged or not, things are as they are. The earth is round and that’s it. You can’t go against true things. I am very calm. But if it were enlarged I would have earned it too. Others would rely on charisma, but I am humble, educated… and that’s where I’m going to stop.
A message, it is understood, for the previous coach, Luis Enrique, who walks through life with plenty of charisma. Of the now PSG coach, De la Fuente en la Ser said that he had not seen the series about his life, “I didn’t even plan to see it.”
From the Source to the attack is more fun. His comments have been more pointed, less politically correct, for some time. At the Arcángel stadium he said: «We are on the way to recovering the spirit of 2010, but we have to feed it together, not only with the results, it is nice when you see other teams, 50,000 Croatians and 12,000 Spaniards. I am proud, excited, to be Spanish. But if we distract attention, if we generate conflict between clubs, we will go wrong. There are no clubs here, we must collaborate together».
It is a warning to the press, focused on following the selection between Real Madrid and Barcelona. But there were no starters from Madrid or Barça, nor from Atlético, in the lineup that scored and marveled against Serbia. De la Fuente longs for a team without the eternal Madrid-Barça conflict.
He said it later: “I know the players very well, which surprises me that it surprises you,” he told the press. But since the players are not on media teams… But they don’t fail here, I have made a little mistake since I arrived.”
That vindictive De la Fuente defended his flagship, Álvaro Morata, who missed a penalty and then scored a good goal. «I’m happy for him, that they chanted his name, I think things are changing“We have been fair to a great footballer, respecting the value of a captain.” Message to the Bernabéu crowd, who scolded the forward in the friendly with Brazil.
The renewed version of the coach (there are those who claim that he has changed his representative and style) culminated in Córdoba with a notice to the clubs. Spain is already classified for the quarterfinals of the Nations League, but the coach will call on the regulars: “We want to be first in the group, this is the Spanish team, not a community of neighbors, and we are obliged to the maximum with the best footballers, who, as I have repeated on occasions, are very happy to come.
