De la Fuente on Spain's 2023 Nations League triumph

There was no shortage of pressure on Luis de la Fuente when he took over as Spain boss following their last-16 exit at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but within seven months he had guided them to a first major title in 11 years: the UEFA Nations League. A year later he led them to another, triumphing at UEFA EURO 2024. Here the former Spain U23, U21 and U19 coach recalls the Nations League success in the Netherlands and looks ahead to the title defence.

Yeremi Pino put his team ahead inside three minutes against Italy in the semi-finals but the then European champions quickly hit back from the spot. It was a real test of Spain's mettle.

You've got to stay calm and control your emotions because this helps you make rational decisions. This has been something we've got right – conveying to our players that they should focus solely on football and follow what we say because with their talent, everything will flow smoothly.

Since becoming coach we've never lost our nerve. We've always been focused on implementing the game plan. This gives you a lot of strength and credibility. It means we formed a solid, determined squad capable of beating Italy.

It was still 1-1 after 88 minutes when Joselu, who made his Spain debut in De la Fuente's first game, struck a dramatic winner.

He's got that thing that all great goalscorers have: knowing how to be in the right place at the right time. He's got a gift and does a great job bringing it to the table with us. He's really calm and self-assured because he knows we've placed our trust in him.

He made his debut against Norway last March [2023] and scored two goals. Picking him wasn't a short-term solution – it was a long-term solution. This gives a lot of peace of mind to any player, especially a goalscorer.

Rodri was Player of the Match, though, having picked up the same accolade in the Champions League final weeks before. The Manchester City midfielder was subsequently named 2022/23 Champions League Player of the Season and would achieve a clean sweep with the Player of the Tournament gong in the Netherlands.

He is the best central midfielder in the world, the most complete No6. He stands out in every facet of the game: he understands how to attack, how to defend; he is unselfish, he looks to support, he's hard-working and knows how to orchestrate play. He is pure talent.

I always like to point out his greatest trait, though, which is his humility to understand and be willing to learn and take on board advice from a coach. He has grown, is growing, and will continue to grow [as a player] thanks to that humility.

Croatia were the final opponents in Rotterdam, but Spain had to dig deep as 90 and 120 minutes passed with the game still goalless.

Our main goal was to create that team ethic, to unite everyone in a tight-knit group with a common objective: to win the Nations League. And we did it. We did it because the players were very selfless. They all understood the message we were transmitting to them, they believed in us.

Everything was quite hard because both matches were very tough. But it was easy to manage the squad because they were all committed to that idea we had conveyed.

It went to penalties, a lottery for some, but Spain left no stone unturned in preparations for their second bite at the Nations League having finished runners-up in 2021. Unai Simón made two saves, while Aymeric Laporte failed to convert. It left Dani Carvajal with the chance to win it.

We work on everything, even how you walk out onto the pitch. Everything counts. We'd worked on penalties, but to be honest in the event it was Dani himself who decided to take the last spot kick. He said: "Coach, I'm going to take it." I said "go ahead" and he scored. He was convinced he'd score, and it was a top penalty.

Spain's defence begins in Group A4 against Denmark, Switzerland and Serbia.

When we [as a squad] spoke for the first time about what we wanted to achieve, it was to become a great team. I believe we are on course to achieve this. We want our football to evolve, based on playing quicker football and having more options while improving defensively, where I believe we are one of the best teams in the world.

There's always room for improvement, though. We're humble and we acknowledge that there's a fine line between victory and defeat, but we go into this with the firm belief that we can win the trophy again.