Spain midfielder Dani Olmo on Italy, the UEFA Nations League and coach Luis de la Fuente – interview

Attacking midfielder Dani Olmo has taken something of a circuitous route to the top levels of European football. As a teenager, he left his native Spain for Croatia, where he learned a huge amount in five years at Dinamo Zagreb before joining his current club, Leipzig.

Now capped 30 times for Spain, Olmo played under new national-team coach Luis de la Fuente in the national Under-21 and Olympic sides, and hopes the boss can bring a similar winning mentality as La Roja kick off their UEFA Nations League campaign against Italy, the side that eliminated them on penalties in the UEFA EURO 2020 semi-finals.

On Spain's battle to reach the finals

It was tough. Ultimately, the other teams make it tough for us; they also study us to set up a game plan against us. It all also depends on how we sort it out on the pitch. Of course, we trust in our ability, but it wasn't easy. It was up in the air until our final match against Portugal, but we deserve to be part of the Final Four.

On Spain's shoot-out defeat against Italy at EURO 2020

We deserved so much more given how we had been playing. [Italy] were one of the best teams in the tournament and the team that ended up winning. But we learn from everything. It helped us get better for the World Cup. We left with our heads held high, and with the experience it gave us, since we are all still very young. We have to keep going. This isn't over.

Would I be happy to take a penalty against Italy even though Gianluigi Donnarumma saved one of mine in that EURO shoot-out? I am confident, and I always want to go take a penalty. The one I took against Italy in the semi-finals was a shame. It was too high, but I learned from it, and I have to keep on trying because failure comes from giving up, and not from trying. It seems like I got that phrase out of a book, but it's just how it is.

On his five years in Croatia with Dinamo Zagreb

I started there very young at only 16 years of age and left at 21. I grew up a lot there; I learned a lot from them – from their mentality and their ambition. That's what I took from there, among other things: that hunger for winning.

I've always wanted to win, and then when you're there and playing professionally, you see the rivalry between clubs and also in the national team and when I play in European competition. Ultimately, not only in football, but also in sports like handball, swimming, tennis, the mentality of former Yugoslavia, in this case Croatia, is always a winning mentality.

On Spain coach Luis de la Fuente

I have had the good fortune to work with him at Under-21 level and with many players who are here today, and we were able to win that competition [in 2019], then later [went to] the Olympic Games [in 2020], and now we're here in the national team. In the end, we have to keep going. Nobody is going to give us anything for free. And he tells us that; even though he knows us well, he expects a lot of us, just like everyone else. Those expectations will always be good for the group.

He's a direct coach; he's always looking ahead. He knows what he wants, he wants to attack, and he has things clear in his mind. He gets his ideas across to us very clearly and it is simply up to us to do as he tells us. In the Under-21s we won the title, at the Olympic Games we also won the silver medal, and in the national team we want to keep winning.