And Deschamps took charge of France after the defeat to Spain at the Donbass Arena
On July 9, the first finalist of Euro 2024 will be determined. In Munich, at the Allianz Arena, the national teams of Spain and France will fight for a place in the final match of the tournament.
For the head coach of La Furia Roja, Luis de la Fuente, this is the first semi-final of a major tournament at the national team level (if we do not take into account the League of Nations). The coach of the French national team will play in the fourth semi-final in his career as a coach of the Tricolor. At the same time, de la Fuente beat France at the youth level, and under Deschamps, he won two of five matches against Spain.
With de la Fuente at the helm, who has been working in the national team system for 11 years, the Spanish U-19 team has met its French counterparts five times. They have won three matches and lost two. Two of those matches were friendly, three were official. Of those three matches, two were European Championship semi-finals.
In 2013, Spain lost to France 1:2, and in 2015, they took revenge (2:0). Spain won that tournament, bringing de la Fuente his first trophy at the national team level. The specialist took his second in 2019, winning the Euro with the country’s youth team, which included Mayoral, Ceballos, Ruiz, Olmo, Simon, and Merino. The last four are in Spain’s application for Euro 2024.
Willingness to trust young people, a flair for talent and the ability to work with players of completely different status and age are some of de la Fuente’s main qualities. Suffice it to say that in 20 matches, which fit into a year and a half, during which the specialist has been working with the national team, 17 players made their debut in its composition: 12 in 2024, five in the current year. Nine of them were included in the team’s application for Euro 2024, two made their debut in the Furia Roja composition already directly at the tournament: Ayoze Perez and Fermin Lopez. Moreover, the first did it at 21, the second – almost 31.
In addition to Perez and Lopez, Spain’s application included Alex Remiro, Dani Vivian, Joselu, Le Normand, Yamal, Bayena and Grimaldo, who made their debuts under de la Fuente. De la Fuente’s debutants left out of the tournament were Kubrasi, David Garcia, Fran Garcia, Zaragoza, Riquelme, Pedraza, Sunset and Aleix Garcia.
De la Fuente’s counterpart in the Euro 2024 semi-final, Didier Deschamps, has been working with the French national team for 12 years. During this time, Les Bleus have met Spain five times: they won two matches, lost two matches and drew one. The teams exchanged victories in friendly matches, Spain took four points in two matches with France in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, and Les Bleus beat Furia Roja in the 2020/2021 Nations League final.
France and Spain have met four times at the Euro. The Tricolors won two matches, Furia Roja won one, and one match ended in a draw. The last time the teams met in the European Championship was in 2012 at the quarter-final stage at the Donbass Arena. The Spaniards were stronger then, winning 2-0 in front of 47,000 spectators, thanks to a brace from Xabi Alonso. That match was Laurent Blanc’s last at the helm of the national team, and he was replaced by Deschamps.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
