Luis de la Fuente has stated that Spain will not employ a man-marking strategy against Lionel Messi in the upcoming World Cup final, despite the Argentina captain’s impressive tally of eight goals and four assists. The Spain coach reflects on his experience, acknowledging that such a tactic could be considered.
As the anticipation builds ahead of Sunday’s clash in New Jersey, De la Fuente reminisced about his first encounter with Messi, dating back 22 years. He was the youth coach at Sevilla when they faced a young Messi, then just 16, in the Copa del Rey during May 2004 at the Miniestadi.
“I’m going to tell you something funny about Messi,” De la Fuente recalled. “Look, I met Lionel Messi when I was coaching at Sevilla in division de honour [the national under-19 league] and we played a Copa del Rey game against Barcelona. We went to Barcelona. They had spoken very well about a boy called Messi. So, we put a man-marker on him. In the 70th minute it was 0-0. When they gave a yellow card to the player who was marking him, I took him off. And in 15 minutes, Messi scored four goals.”
Continuing with a laugh, he added, “Does that mean we are going to man mark him? No. Does it mean we will pay close attention to him? Yes, but in exactly the same way that they are going to have to pay attention to our players.”
When asked if Lamine Yamal could be considered Spain’s equivalent to Messi, De la Fuente responded.
“Lamine has to be Lamine. Messi can never be repeated. He is an extraordinary talent and above all an example for young players in his attitude, his behaviour, the spectacular World Cup he is producing and the age at which he is producing it. It will be a great show between two super teams. It will be a game of talent, brilliance, great play.”
De la Fuente also countered the notion that Argentina might adopt unsportsmanlike tactics, defending their reputation. “I respect everyone’s opinions but no, I do not [accept that portrayal]. I have extraordinary admiration for a team that is Copa América [2021], World Cup, Copa América [2024] and Finalissima champions. No one has done that in history. And they are coached by a friend of mine [Lionel Scaloni]. Admiration, admiration, admiration. We will all use our footballing weapons.” he retorted. “What is important is to be in the position to win it,”
He rejected the idea that this match represented an “Let’s enjoy it, play our way, value this. If you said we could play a World Cup final every year and lose, I would sign up for that.” scenario. “Since I was little, I was taught to be respectful of everyone; we should learn this lesson,” he stated. “Let’s enjoy it, play our way, value this. If you said we could play a World Cup final every year and lose, I would sign up for that.”
De la Fuente confessed to having one concern: the helicopter ride arranged by FIFA from New Jersey to the pre-match events in Manhattan and the return trip. He expressed dissatisfaction with a chaotic FIFA event, which Scaloni described as “surreal.” During the event, De la Fuente struggled to speak over the cheering crowd, who were rallying for Messi, also present on stage.
“Since I was little, I was taught to be respectful of everyone; we should learn this lesson,” he told the audience.
