Luis de la Fuente revealed that Spain will not mark Messi in the World Cup final | 2026 World Cup

Luis de la Fuente says he will not mark Lionel Messi in the World Cup finals, although the Argentina captain has scored eight goals and provided four assists and the Spanish coach’s experience suggests it is not a bad idea.

Ahead of Sunday’s final in New Jersey, De la Fuente told the story of the first time he met Messi, 22 years ago, when the Argentine was a 16-year-old through Barcelona, ​​he was the coach of the youth team at Sevilla and the draw for the Under-19 Cup in the last 16 in May 2004 at the Miniestadi.

“I’ll tell you something funny about Messi,” said De la Fuente. “Look, I met Lionel Messi when I was training at Sevilla division de honor [the national under-19 league] and we played a Copa del Rey match against Barcelona. We went to Barcelona. They had spoken very well of a boy named Messi. So, we put a human tag on him. In the 70th minute it was 0-0. When they gave the player who was marking a yellow card, I sent him off. In 15 minutes, Messi scored four goals.”

De la Fuente continues laughing: “Does that mean we will mark someone? No, does it mean we will pay more attention to him?

Asked if Lamine Yamal was the closest thing Spain had to Messi, De la Fuente replied: “Lamine has to be Lamine. Messi will never repeat himself. He is an amazing talent and above all an example for young players with his attitude, his behavior, the amazing World Cup he is producing and the years he is producing. It will be a great show, a great game between two playing teams.”

He pushed back against suggestions Argentina might be using the dark arts, challenging their image as a dirty team. “Please,” he shot back. “I respect everyone’s opinion but no, I don’t do that [accept that portrayal]. I absolutely love the Copa América team [2021]World Cup, Copa América [2024] and Finalissima champions. No one has ever done that in history. And they were trained by my friend [Lionel Scaloni]. Praise, praise, praise. We will all use our football weapons.”

De la Fuente also dismissed suggestions that the final was “all or nothing”. “The important thing is to have a chance to win it,” he said. “Let’s enjoy it, let’s play our way, let us know this, if you say we can play the World Cup final every year and lose, I can sign up for that.”

He said he was afraid of only one thing: the fact that FIFA had him take a helicopter from New Jersey to the pre-match in Manhattan and that he would have to go back again. Nor was he impressed by the explosive, chaotic Fifa event which Scaloni, who appeared annoyed, described as “surreal”. At this event, De la Fuente struggled to speak because of the noise of the audience who were shouting for him and cheering for Messi who was also on stage.

“From a young age, I was taught to respect everyone; we must learn this lesson,” he told the crowd.