"I was really excited about Morata taking the penalty"

Alvaro Morata has faced heavy criticism in recent years for his performances. His miss in the penalty shoot-out against Portugal only amplified the fans' discontent. This has led the striker to consider whether to continue playing for Spain. However, within the dressing room, he has one of his most ardent defenders.

Luis de la Fuente is clear about what Morata brings to the national side, despite the forward experiencing the lowest point of his career. "I am being fair to a fantastic footballer, a very good person and a great captain who always contributes."

"I was responsible for choosing the penalty takers. I always see the positive side. You have to be very brave like him to take a penalty in a moment of maximum stress, and he stepped up," the national coach asserted in 'El Mundo'.

"I thought he was going to bring us glory and the title. I was really excited about it being him. Everyone was, but him especially. I was sure of it. But football is like that. You have to make decisions and I would make that decision today and a thousand times over," De la Fuente stated confidently.

The Spanish boss explained that the key to creating a good football team is "to come together and unite cohesive people with the same purposes and objectives, with a similar way of seeing life and sport, and, above all, who are good people".

"My way of acting is to appeal to intelligence, and when you explain the reasons why a decision is made, the player accepts it with total and absolute discipline," said a coach who has the 2026 World Cup in mind: "We will fight for it. We have a generation of fantastic footballers, an exceptional working group and an entire country behind us. Winning is very difficult, but we will fight for it."