MADRID, 14 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish men’s soccer coach, Luis de la Fuente, has advocated this Friday for leaving “the debate” around the center back Aymeric Laporte, who he said is “perfectly” despite not starting the match against Croatia of the first day of Group B of the Euro Cup.
“Aymeric could play, but we would have to take risks and we have decided not to. He is training well these two days, outside the group, but he was doing all the work we had planned. It’s fine, he would have had a chance to play, but we are going to “We’ll wait to see how this week progresses ahead of Thursday. But I think that if he was ready to play tomorrow, I understand that if everything goes normally… he will be there too,” he said at a press conference.
“He is not injured, he had some discomfort. I insist that he could play tomorrow and we have decided that we will not take risks; he will not play tomorrow for that reason, simply for protection. Let’s see if we can get out of that debate because, if not, you will leave me to ask; he is perfectly fine. He arrived at the right time, when it was planned, when I had agreed with him. He is trained, motivated, he is a great player and for me, today, he is one of the best players in his position.” , reiterated De la Fuente on the eve of facing the Croatian team.
Thus, he highlighted his “message of solidarity, teamwork, cohesion, and joint work.” “It’s very good because individually I think we have very important superior talent, and all that makes us stronger and we also work as a team. Not as a small team, but as a good team. So I think we have a lot of category, a lot of quality,” argued the Spain coach.
“We represent a country, we represent all the fans who are living and following our team. It seems to me that this is already a reason for maximum responsibility. And as for the challenge, yes, it is the most important I have had so far. Everything “What I have experienced may have certain similarities at times, but obviously the dimension that a Euro Cup has transcends many of the situations we have experienced previously,” he admitted about his role.
Then he talked about Dani Olmo. “He has also completed the last sessions with complete normality with the rest of his teammates. He is available and you can see how eager he is to play, just like everyone else. We are going to evaluate tomorrow, we have decided on the team. You will see tomorrow if Dani enters or not, but I would be very prepared to leave from the first minute and as long as we need it,” he said in this regard.
“The favoritism must then be demonstrated on the field of play. Internally we know that we are a great team and that we have the potential to compete for the best and I believe, I insist, that if you ask many professionals from other teams they will tell you that this is indeed the case. “Now, having said that, tomorrow we play against another potential team,” he alluded to the Croatian team.
“In this competition there is a lot of equality and we are the best teams in Europe, almost in the world. So, we have to be very good, at a very high level, very successful and I think we have enough potential, individually and above all collectively, to correspond to those expectations that I believe that many teams and many football professions take us into account,” added De la Fuente.
“If you talk to me about that expectation, they are managing between 10,000 and 12,000 Spanish spectators who are going to come to the stadium. I think it is a very important number, I think that historically there have been few events in which there has surely been such a number. What What I mean is that people are motivated, they are hooked,” he said.
“It is still difficult for us to have that national feeling and it is difficult for us to have it. We have talked about it on different occasions, but I believe that little by little that is our responsibility too, to transmit it to the people, hook them and make them feel that pride in the country that generates motivation to accompany us on the trips. Little by little I think it will be achieved, obviously in victory this is achieved in a better way,” stressed the ‘Roja’ coach.
“We are going to try to start giving arguments to all the fans, who I am sure are eager to join us. Well, give them reasons to follow us in a more multitudinous way. But in any case, we are sure to experience a fantastic atmosphere,” he predicted. ahead of that match at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
Later he commented on the visit that Pedro Rocha, president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), had made to them: “He came to give us support, calm, tranquility, more than what we have. It is a great luxury to be living together as we are and experiencing this concentration”.
“He simply came to give us support, that closeness that he has always shown with us, in short. He has not set any standard, nor any minimum nor any results. He has been in football for a long time, he knows what this is like, he blindly trusts the professionals that we are working on,” he added. “He knows that we are going to give up our lives to achieve a great result,” he added about Rocha’s visit to Germany.
De Lamine Yamal said that “he is a child but with a talent that only the chosen ones have.” “I like to say that they are touched by that wand of God, there are very few who are in those conditions and they are also people who in that same section must understand the game, understand those situations of maturity, of maturing earlier, which also happens to them. “he noted.
“We try to give normality to that situation, but to support him because we also have to explain to him that from humility he will grow much more because we know that these peaks he will have here and you will praise him and say that he is fantastic and everyone; and when he has other moments that the He is going to have to go down to the valley again, because the criticism is fierce,” he warned.
“If he doesn’t have balance, he will have a bad time. We try to educate him in that context, by the way. We reinforce all that education that he receives in his club, that training and here we reinforce it. But they are special footballers and they have that touch that makes them different from the rest,” De la Fuente stressed about the very young Barça attacker.
Finally, the coach confessed that he felt “fundamentally responsible” and also “calm.” “It’s what we’ve been doing forever, it’s what my players know me, they know that I am this way and I think I help them a lot, we help them a lot by acting this way. We face the game with great enthusiasm and I would highlight that, the word illusion,” highlighted the Spain coach.
“We have been working for almost 15 days in an exceptional way and with commitment. You see the players who are anxious, but we have to give them that calm because we all know that it is a very important event. We want to start well, give a good feeling, transmit that security that we are convinced that we can do something important,” he concluded.