Match In Nations League, De La Fuente Believes Spain Will Not Lose Champion Motivation

The Spanish team will face Serbia in the UEFA Nations League. (X/@SEFutbol)

JAKARTA - Spain started the fight to defend the title in the UEFA Nations League against Serbia. Coach Luis de la Fuente said Spain remained enthusiastic and motivated to win after winning Euro 2024.

Spain is targeting to win when they visit Serbia in their League A Group 4 match at the Rajko Mitic Stadium, Belgrade, Friday, September 6, 2024 in the morning WIB. De la Fuente ensured La Roja would not change. Spain is likely to experience saturation after winning two important trophies, the Nations League and the European Cup.

However, De la Fuente ensured that Spain remained a competitive team. Moreover, Dani Olmo et al have not actually performed the top performance. Even in the Euro final when they beat England 2-1, De la Fuente admitted that Spain did not show the best performance.

"This team will never be satisfied. We show it as a competitive and tireless team. They still have the motivation to win every game. After all, their best performance has not appeared yet," said De la Fuente.

"I see the players stay focused but their ambitions and confidence are not excessive. Players will still set the earth. They just want to continue to grow and develop. In my opinion, we are not difficult to move on and look at the next match," he said again.

Spain performed optimally when winning the European Cup in Germany. By combining senior players such as Dani Carvajal and young star Lamine Yamal, Spain has always won seven Euro 2024 matches.

In fact, they have succeeded in dismantling leading teams such as Germany and France. This makes Spain worthy of winning European trophies for the fourth time as well as the record holder to win the most.

According to De la Fuente, the key to Spain's success is strengthening the mentality of players by turning ambitions into an obsession.

"I have the honor of training the players who are very special and this is the greatest pride because we know how to handle them. We show them as a growing team and always enjoy every game. We just know how to enjoy what we do and try to win it," said De la Fuente.

"This is what makes us always work hard so that players can bring out their best abilities. We are trying to help him because they are indeed the best in Spain," he said.

Spain played two away games in the Nations League. After facing Serbia, they hosted Switzerland, Monday, September 9, 2024 in the morning WIB.

De la Fuente will reshuffle the squad. Morata is definitely not in the squad after suffering a muscle injury when making his debut with AC Milan. Likewise Mikel Merino and Fermin Lopez will miss the two matches.

Meanwhile, Jesus Navas has retired from the national team. The goalkeeper position was taken over by David Raya because Unai Simon was not included in the squad.

De la Fuente still hopes Yamal can perform despite being injured in Barcelona's match. He will start in that match.