Despite Georgia’s opening score, Spain coach Luis de La Fuente assured that his team never doubted in the round of 16 of Euro 2024, Sunday June 30, even believing that the match (4-1) “could have finished at 8-1.”
“We cannot control the match all the time. The opponents are good and can also score. But we knew how to keep a cool head, underlined the coach, whose team was trailing 1-0 after 18 minutes of play. We knew that the danger came from the counterattacks and the transitions but (before the goal) they had not shot once and they scored on an own goal,” he also noted.
“We had total control of the match”
“Apart from a few minutes, we had total control of the match and every situation (of match) makes us better because we learn from every situation,” he continued. But, after this brief moment of nervousness, “we created a lot of chances, we could have finished the match at 8-1”, he judged.
Asked in particular about the significant number of opportunities wasted by Lamine Yamal, 16 years and 11 months, in this match and who has not yet opened his account in this Euro, De La Fuente admitted that he would have “could have been calmer at times.”
“He played an excellent match, but he can do even better. He has a lot of confidence in himself but sometimes he takes risks when the match requires him to keep the ball,” further clarified the technician, who coached the under-19s (2013-2018) and the Espoirs (2018-2022).
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“He is learning and gaining experience at a very young age and with very good players surrounding him,” he concluded.
