Luis de la Fuente insisted he had no preference regarding Spain’s Euro 2024 final opponents after his side’s victory over France, claiming England and the Netherlands were both ‘great rivals’.
Spain came from behind to win 2-1 and secure their spot in Sunday’s showpiece, with Dani Olmo scoring what proved to be the winner after Lamine Yamal’s historic equaliser in Munich.
Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Theo Hernandez all spurned golden opportunities to draw level as France, who had earlier opened the scoring through Randal Kolo Muani, came up short in their pursuit of an all-important second after the break.
Spain – far and away the most convincing team at this summer’s tournament – held firm to dump out France, but there were concerning scenes after the full-time whistle as a security guard slipped and accidentally clattered into Alvaro Morata’s knee.
Facing the media shortly after the incident, Spain boss De la Fuente said he was confident Morata would make a full recovery to play a part in this weekend’s final in Berlin.
‘With Alvaro, we have to wait and see tomorrow. We believe it’s nothing,’ he told reporters.
‘It hurts but we think it’s nothing.’
Spain’s players and staff will no doubt be watching on with interest tomorrow night when England do battle with the Netherlands for chance to join them at the Olympiastadion Berlin this weekend.
However, De la Fuente insisted it ‘doesn’t matter’ who his team come up againstin the German capital.
‘It doesn’t matter who the opponent is, we’ve already seen the journey we’ve had at Euro 2024,’ he added.
‘They are two great rivals and we are waiting for them with open arms.’
Asked if it would be best for football if Spain beat England in the final, De la Fuente replied: ‘All we do is try and be strong in our idea.
‘We are happy to have reached this final.
‘We have been able to reach the final again and take Spain to where it belongs in sport.’
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