Luis de la Fuente appeared this afternoon in Tbilisi in the preview of the match against Georgia qualifying for the Euro Cup in Germany without wanting to talk about anything other than sporting issues, by orders of the Federation. The coach, looking tired, insisted on the idea of ??having managed to completely isolate himself from the scandal that has engulfed the Federation for more than two weeks. He also did not want to answer what he thought of Jorge Vilda’s dismissal. “I’m just going to say that tomorrow we have an important game and that we have a lot at stake. We are only focused on this. The players have a commitment that excites me,” he said.
Asked directly about the dismissal of the women’s coach and if he thought it was fair, he put on a look of annoyance and replied: “What I want it to be fair is that we deserve to win tomorrow, nothing more,” he stated.
Regarding whether this last week in which he was confirmed by Pedro Rocha, the interim president of the Federation, had been the week in which he had had the most pressure in his entire life, De la Fuente also came out as best he could: “Since “That I’m in charge (nine months) I’ve never had a quiet press conference and you get used to it. Having pressure from football doesn’t worry me. The first critic is me. I’m not surprised to have to handle this pressure”, he commented.
For De la Fuente, the key is to have managed to isolate yourself from everything: “We selectors do not have day by day, but no one forgets that we have just won the Nations League. Let us be aware of what we have achieved. Weeks go by without giving “I only think about football, football and Georgia, Georgia. We have a fantastic future,” he insisted.
The coach does not seem very worried about his future in case of defeat against Georgia: “What if we win 0-7? I feel strong and supported. Football will dictate the future. I am very calm,” he said.
Then it was the turn of one of the captains, Rodri Hernández, the Manchester City midfielder, who also tiptoed around the Federation scandal: “The players all get together and talk about the situation. It is an unpleasant situation. There has been no “It has been an easy few weeks for De la Fuente. It is giving us confidence to focus only on football. We have done a quick reset,” he commented.
The importance of the match against Georgia is not lost on anyone on the Spanish team, who lost the last qualifying match in Glasgow against Scotland. De la Fuente did not want to give clues about the eleven, but praised Lamine Yamal: “Working with him he seems much better to me than on TV. He is a very important footballer for us and he is here on his own merits. He seems like a great player to me. “He is very young and you have to give him time. I don’t give the lineup because I never give it the day before. The first ones who have to know it are the players.”
Rodri praised the rival: “We know that for us tomorrow is a very important match against a good team. The last time we came we won in the last breath. Let’s expect one of the most difficult matches in the group. We will have to give a very good performance our version if we want to win.
Rodri would not be surprised if Lamine Yamal started: “He is a boy with an impressive progression. He has a very premature explosion. You have to understand that he is only 16 years old. The little I have been able to see of him does not seem to be that age.” .
