Luis de la Fuente, Spanish U21 coach, said that this week has been “the most difficult” of his professional stage due to the “pressure” and “stress” due to a positive coronavirus in the team the day after concentrating , Jon Moncayola's.
“It has been the most difficult week of my professional stage. Living with that feeling of pressure, stress, passing the strict controls to see how we were doing… it has been a very important feeling of helplessness. But at the same time, taking out the positive side, it has been good for us to assess what we have been able to do since we have all met. Yesterday we were all able to be complete. It will help us assess the strength of this team, “he said at a press conference.
“We lose a great footballer, a great person and a great teammate. A player who has great ancestry in the group because he is especially loved and gives us a lot in terms of football. He was in one of the best moments of his season, “he lamented.
Instead of Moncayola, Antonio Blanco entered the list, of whom he highlighted: “He offers us the future and the present of a great footballer. He has had the opportunity to find a place in a team like Real Madrid and he will have more minutes because he has special conditions ”.
De la Fuente assured that he has good feelings for the quarter-final match against Croatia on Monday.
“We are highly motivated. It is a final. It's the championship game. We face it with a very special integrity and responsibility. We want to have a great game. I see all the players ready to face this match. I see them with an obsession to pass this game because they know how important it is. I'm glad to see you like this ”, he stressed.
“It is a selection that has a lot of name. Their majors are runners-up in the world and there are prestigious players all over the world. We face the game knowing that we want to take the initiative of the match before a team with great individuals and that works very well as a team. This match is not going to be easy at all and we have to make the best of the best we have to overcome them, ”he commented on Croatia.
The Spanish Under-21 team has 11 players who, by age, could play the next European in the category, something that the coach pondered.
“We want to form the best possible team. These guys are knocking down the door demanding opportunities that they have in their clubs and that we have to give them. In this way we are ensuring the future of this team and it makes us optimistic because the present is seen with great enthusiasm and the future exactly the same ”, he declared.
“It's very nice,” he added, “and I feel very proud to be part of the development of these footballers, in the part that corresponds to us. I don't know if it is the most important challenge, but it is one of the most important. I want to highlight it because I knew the previous generation four or five years before and I was very convinced of them, but this generation was unknown and now I have the same pride and I am convinced that we are going to do something very important in this European “.