Luis de la Fuente, the Spanish coach, spoke from Cyprus and was consulted about the Barcelona player’s incident with Lewandowski.
Luis de la Fuente, the Spanish coach, appeared this Wednesday from Cyprus, where La Roja will play tomorrow the penultimate match corresponding to the group stage of the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Spain and Scotland have already been drawn into the national team group, but will battle for top spot in the standings over the final two days. The team that achieves this will enter the Euro Cup as the top seed, avoiding the theoretical best teams of the tournament.
See LIVE and DIRECT ONLINE online Cyprus vs. Spanish national team, qualifying phase for the German Euro 2024
Below are De la Fuente’s most notable comments in the press room:
Do you consider the play as a rehearsal?
This is more than a test, it should help us become better than previous games. That’s the goal: to get better every day. There is still a lot of room for improvement, they are very good football players with a great willingness to do so.
Possible favorites for the Euro:
France, England, Germany, Portugal, Italy… We always mention the same ones, but then there are surprises. Croatia always performs very well in competitions. On the one hand there are the classics and then there are the teams that appear. The national teams are very equal, they all have eleven very good players. We may be forty, but everyone has eleven really good ones.
Rise of two places in the FIFA rankings
It’s good news to move up two positions in the FIFA rankings, but we want to get better every day heading into the European Championship. We want to win to be better positioned and achieve many successes.
Situation of Ferran and Gayà:
They are all available. Yesterday Ferran and Gayà trained as a precaution, but they are all available.
Favoritism during the European Championship:
We are ready to fight to win. There are many teams at the same level as us. We must have the idea of fighting to win, and winning depends on many details that take you to one place or another.
Young people and people of Olympic age:
The best experience was the Games. I don’t want to think about what that experience must be like without the restrictions of the pandemic. It is Santi Denia’s job to prepare that team, I was already having a very difficult time. There is still a lot to do between now and the European Championships and the Games, and decisions will have to be made. We’ll see if anyone has to repeat this, but it will have to be done by Santi, who is the Olympic coach and has earned it.
Bitter defeat in 1998:
I’m getting cold. As a fan, I remember it being bad news. This has changed a lot for the better, in football nothing is certain, but above all I want to tell you that the idea we have for the game is to go ‘boiler-busting’. Let’s go with everything. The results of the past are the past, we want to look to the future and play all matches without half measures. Experience has taught me that every game turns ugly and that this is often due to a lack of concentration. That won’t be the case tomorrow. We have the opportunity to build very powerful teams.
Distribution of minutes in these two matches:
We are looking forward to the two matches with great importance. It’s one more step in continuing to grow and work. We don’t want to have any doubts, we’re not giving anything away to the 25 players that are here. I’m sure whoever plays will ensure we have a very competitive team. But I don’t want to take anything away from this match, we want to approach it like a final. This and all games.
How is Lamine Yamal doing after the Lewandoski incident:
He is happy here. It’s an episode they’ve already cleared up and that’s it. He will be ready to compete tomorrow and that gives us peace of mind.
You have only worked for the Spanish national team, what is the reason?:
I am privileged in my work. I am very happy.
Do you think the time has come for you to win the European Championship?
We work every day to get better. We now have two games against Cyprus and Georgia that are very important. In the medium term, which will be the next European Championship, we have an obligation to fight for the European Championship. We have to be mature to compete to the fullest
Source: Goal