Euro 2024, day 20
Spain are doing it, they've figured it out
This isn’t the Spain we know and tolerate.
La Roja’s golden era started by winning Euro 2008, but that was actually before Spanish football as a “brand” became totally distinctive. Two important things happened the same summer Spain won the European Championship that redefined the national side.
The first was Barcelona hiring Pep Guardiola. We’re all familiar with the possession style that side pioneered and you don’t need me to explain it again. Six of the starting eleven that would win the World Cup final for Spain played for that club side (Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Pedro). Ironically for a club so tied to Catalan identity, the Barça way became the Spanish way pretty quickly.
The second thing that redefined the national side was Vicente del Bosque replacing Luis Aragonés as manager. Del Bosque recognised he needed to embrace the tiki taka style his players were suited to, but his natural conservatism made it a more negative pursuit. Guardiola played an all-Spanish midfield three of Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta, typically with a front three of direct players who wanted to run in behind. Del Bosque, however, sought to add Xabi Alonso into the midfield to create a double pivot next to Busquets, moving Iniesta out to the left and giving the side a much greater share of players who wanted to receive the ball to feet and recycle possession. He essentially swapped Lionel Messi for Alonso. And yes, that made the team a bit dull.
Spain doubled down on this at Euro 2012. With David Villa injured and Fernando Torres looking a shadow of his former self at Chelsea, they didn’t have a top striker to rely on, so Del Bosque decided to play Cesc Fàbregas (then of Barcelona) there. The “wingers” either side of him were Iniesta and David Silva, meaning the entire front six were essentially ball-playing midfielders. Spain were able to turn it on in the final against Italy, but much of the football to get there was predictably slow and patient.
Everything went wrong for Spain in the 2014 World Cup, but let’s not forget how slow they were in possession with Busquets, Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta and Silva again all on the pitch. They got smacked 5-1 in the first game by a Netherlands side playing direct and exciting football under Louis van Gaal. It was too slow, too tiki taka, too boring.
Euro 2016 was Del Bosque’s last tournament, and in fairness I thought they had at least a little more zip about their game with Fàbregas next to Busquets and Iniesta in a midfield three, and Nolito and Alvaro Morata next to David Silva in the attack. This team played some good stuff at times with less quality than previous iterations, and just came unstuck against a well-organised Italy side.
Julen Lopetegui was supposed to manage the team in the 2018 World Cup but, in a very characteristic move, the people in charge of the Spanish FA decided their own egos were more important than the national side’s success and sacked him for taking the Real Madrid job behind their backs. Fernando Hierro took over at the last minute and I don’t think anyone had a great desire to change things. They went out to Russia on penalties in the Round of 16, with one of the ugliest passmaps you’ll see. That is a lot of passing it around and getting nowhere.
Luis Enrique took over after that. He’s definitely not cut from the same cloth as Del Bosque, Lopetegui or Hierro. He’s someone who likes to take risks and did want to see a more direct style. It was pretty good at Euro 2020 (which was actually 2021), when they had Pablo Sarabia and Ferran Torres either side of Álvaro Morata. Look, are these players of the same calibre of previous sides? Obviously Morata is the best striker in the world, but otherwise no, they’re not. They had a balance, though, that wasn’t there in the 2022 World Cup. They were playing Marco Asensio as a false nine with Dani Olmo wide, tilting the balance back towards possession again. I honestly don’t know why Luis Enrique did this. The side became stale and slow even as he wanted them to play more direct football.
On pure managerial talent, Luis de la Fuente is clearly a downgrade from the previous Luis in charge. But he’s picked a team that makes sense. He has Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams starting wide and wanting to run at defenders. He has good players in central areas that want the ball, and outlets looking to receive it in space. Are Williams and Yamal (for now) better footballers than Iniesta and Silva? No, of course not. But it’s a team with genuine balance, and it makes for brilliant football.