Luis de la Fuente finished commenting on his first list for the Spanish soccer team last Friday, announcing something that sounded revolutionary: the first training session of the new era, this Monday at 19:00, would be open to the public, something that It hadn’t happened since November 2019, with Robert Moreno on the bench: “It’s a new stage. We want to walk a path and that’s because the fan feels very close to us,” he explained. And that Monday, at 10:00 a.m., nine hours before the start of training, small groups of young people were already hanging out in the Ciudad del Fútbol de Las Rozas, waiting for the arrival of the national team, which was scheduled before 1:00 p.m.
Behind the federation’s gate, in the residence building, Luis de la Fuente was waiting for them for the first reception, which for him was in many cases a reunion with fundamental footballers from his previous stations at the house, such as Dani Ceballos, Fabián Ruiz , Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi . The 26 that arrived at Las Rozas were not the 26 announced on Friday. Pedri and Gerard Moreno were absent, since injured, and Borja Iglesias and Yeremy Pino appeared, who on Friday knew he should go to Madrid on Monday but because Santi Denia had called him up for the U21s.
Since everyone was already at the residence, De la Fuente addressed them as a group before the meal. A welcome talk together before lunch, a nap and a little sporty chat before the opening training session.
After Moreno, the pandemic and Luis Enrique locked the team in. So, almost four years after the last time, and a few hours before the start of the working session, a long line snaked up and down the doors of the association’s headquarters under the gaze of the Civil Guard and the police.Las Rozas site. At 6:00 p.m., the concentration increased further and the doors were opened. Almost two thousand people entered, who saw the old scaffolding from which Luis Enrique presided over the sessions. This time it was occupied by a camera recording the session and the crowded stands in front of it, with a few hundred people leaning on the unseated balcony in one of the funds.
The practice, just after the last day of the national championships from which the troops arrived and in which the classic decided the league, took place in a merry atmosphere of pure childish illusion. It was a spring Monday and a public holiday in Madrid, because the previous Sunday was Father’s Day.
After half an hour, Dani Olmo, Morata, Ceballos, Nico Williams, Oyarzabal and Mikel Merino were rehearsing wing opening attacks, crosses and shots into the box, while the rest practiced wing practice on mats. The stands celebrated every goal, regretted every failure. The excited screams were tremendous. Then Dani Carvajal walked towards the stands accompanied by Nacho and Joselu, a trio of Real Madrid youth players. The enthusiastic outburst surpassed that of the empty goals while the other footballers gradually followed them. They autographed t-shirts, scarves, hats; and dozens of selfies were taken while Luis de la Fuente walked to the other end, where he eventually disappeared. He had taken a simple and revolutionary step, but football is ahead of him: Spain meet Norway in Malaga on Saturday (8.45pm La1) and Scotland on Tuesday in Glasgow (8.45pm La1).
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