Spain is a team without too many stars, without individual figures They cover everything and the coach, Luis de la Fuente, and the players are convinced that this is the best way to approach success in this Euro Cup. Function as a team, without getting carried away by the exclusive ambitions of the individual. As the teams they directed already did Luis Aragonés and Vicente del Bosque between 2008 and 2012.
«The message is one of solidarity, cohesion, and joint work. And that's very good. Individually we have superior talent, we have a lot of quality and we try to put that individual talent at the service of the team,” says De la Fuente.
And that message reaches the footballers. Especially the older ones, who try to pass it on to the younger ones. «What we are creating here is that instead of being a selection we are the closest thing to a team, that we are all together and that we face the difficult moments, which will surely come in this Euro Cup, as a team,” says Álvaro Moratathe captain of the Red.
Team is the word that is repeated the most in the vocabulary of Spanish internationals. «I like to call it a team instead of a selection because what we are trying to form is a block and a team that works well and that is what we are trying to do,” he acknowledges. Rodri. «The national team is the national team and the clubs are the clubs and each one of us does different things. That's why it's so difficult to make a team in a national team and it's something we've been trying to do for a long time,” he adds.
“The important thing is that there is a great group, that last year we saw that they can win and that is the mentality that must be had,” assumes Jesús Navas, the most veteran of the group. The Sevilla captain is the only survivor of that golden era in which he was one of the young people and now he tries to transmit those experiences to the little ones.
«A tournament like this, a long competition, the teams win and I think that we are all going to be important, we are all going to have our moment and that together we will surely have a good competition,” he warns. Oyarzabalwhich already won the U21 Euro Cup in 2019 with Luis de la Fuente on the bench.
The Real player is one of those who knows the coach best. Help for the group. «Luis has always said that for him the team is very important, the union of everyone, the game will change at a tactical level depending on the match and the rival, but it is important that we all go in the same direction, that in the team everyone goes together , that they help each other and that together it is easier to achieve the goal,” he says.
«We will need a good team, a good performance from the 26 beyond the union we have. We have to know our rivals, play a good game with our ideas, but above all be a team,” assumes Unai Simón, La Roja's goalkeeper.
Spain tries to ensure that everyone reaches where no one alone can reach. This gives Luis de la Fuente the peace of mind of not having to force players who arrive with discomfort, as happens with Aymeric Laporte, who has not trained in recent days with his teammates and whom the coach prefers not to force. «He could play, but we would have to take risks and we have decided that he will not play. He has some discomfort and I have decided that we should not take risks. He is not going to play as a precaution. “He is trained, motivated and for me today he is one of the best players in his position,” says the coach. But first of all there is the group and the physical integrity of the footballers.