Spain fears nothing and no one, “because we are the fearless generation.” Says Lamine Yamal, not out of arrogance, but because the facts are indisputable. They won the Euro Cup with brilliant play, crossing paths with Italy, Germany, France, and England, the most powerful teams on the continent. Kroos, Mbappé, Bellingham, Kane… nothing stopped a team shaken by the energy and boldness of Lamine and Nico Williams, but the foundation of players as young as seasoned and with an unbreakable mentality, like Rodrigo, Dani Olmo, or Mikel Merino.
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They grew up with the winning Spain from 2008 to 2012, from the two Euro Cups and the World Cup, and they know what it is to dominate in youth categories – U-19 and U-20 Europeans – and to hang Olympic medals around their necks. “How can we not be excited if we come from being European champions, if this jersey has already touched the sky, if we have dreamed of this all our lives,” say Pau Cubarsí, Alex Grimaldo, and Borja Iglesias in a promotional video for Adidas.
Is looking in the mirror and seeing themselves as champions enough? “We often talk about Spain as if it were a group of players who meet occasionally and start to get to know each other, but that is not the case. They have experience at the highest level, they have known each other for many years, they get along well, and they have a stable coaching staff that has worked with them for many years. Therefore, they do not have, nor should they have, fear of losing because they already know what it is to win,” reflects Rafa Benítez to EL MUNDO, the coach who managed several of the 2010 world champions at Liverpool.
“Talent and mentality go hand in hand”
Learning through victory is something previous generations did not have. The quarterfinal wall dragged on for decades, and a desert had to be crossed after the end of the golden era of tiki taka in 2014. This team has been led to success by a special individual background. “They have not only won at the national team level but also with their clubs. They know how to compete, they know how to win, and that gives you more and more confidence,” he adds. Vicente del Bosque’s Spain accumulated Champions Leagues and Leagues, but always at Barça or Madrid and in the national championship. They dreamed of, and deserved, a Ballon d’Or, but it is Rodrigo who has achieved it, just as Fabián Ruiz has lifted two consecutive European Cups. Winners of the Premier League, La Liga, the Copa del Rey, finalists, champions in the Club World Cup… finals and rivals no longer intimidate.
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“They have many individual trophies and with their teams, which makes them face these matches as just another challenge, with responsibility, but confident in themselves.” That confidence Benítez refers to is what Rodrigo conveyed in the days leading up to the match. Opposite will be a three-time world champion and winner of the last two editions of the Copa América, but Spain trusts its football. To the talent that has always existed is now added a winning gene they have already incorporated. “Talent and mentality go hand in hand when you achieve success and, above all, when it is repeated,” he argues.
Victory, worked from the ground up “with improvements in facilities and preparation, with a very high level of coaches,” recalls the former Liverpool, Valencia, and Real Madrid coach, has helped detect talent and help it progress also using the spirit of Generation Z, marked by boldness. That of Lamine Yamal in Euro 2024, who now keeps challenging every rival he meets, in words and deeds, because his confidence is extreme. He knows he is a star and it does not weigh on him. That of Cubarsí, who at 19 does not tremble and will look for ways to stop Messi, Lautaro Martínez, or Julián Álvarez as he did before with Mbappé, Olise, and Dembélé.
At the head of this generation is another fearless man. The faith of Luis de la Fuente in his players and in his work with his coaching staff is infinite. He has gone 38 matches without losing since Colombia defeated him in a friendly in March 2024. To find an official defeat – against Portugal in the Nations League on penalties does not count for the statistics – you have to go back to the match against Scotland in March 2023, his second game on the bench. Since then, the coach, like his players, clings to performance with a winning mentality that leads him to repeat: “What if yes [Spain wins the World Cup]?”
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