Before Spain's UEFA Nations League match against England, Spanish national team coach Luis de la Fuente gave an interview to Domingo García from La Razón. He spoke about life after winning the championship, his mother's influence on him, and his views on Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres, the heroes who scored in the final. This article is the first part of the interview.

Part two of the interview

Luis de la Fuente: Yamal has everything needed to become a legend; he handles pressure with ease

Luis, since you became world champion, what has changed? Has your life changed?

De la Fuente: Fundamentally, nothing has changed. I continue to do things and think the same way as before. There is always room for improvement, and we must always strive for that. However, I am beginning to appreciate what we have already achieved, even if imperfectly. It brings me great joy, satisfaction, and pride.

I was about to ask you exactly that. How long does it take for someone to truly realize their success?

I think it takes longer than expected. But now, when you see people's reactions on the street, you gradually understand how significant this achievement is. I travel frequently and visit many places. I see people who are happy, satisfied, full of hope and excitement. Then you begin to realize that we have accomplished something truly important. But for me, I still cannot fully grasp its true weight.

Can people still let you walk peacefully on the street?

That has definitely changed. Now people are very enthusiastic. Wherever I go, they want to show me their love. What surprises me most is that they thank me. It's quite common for someone to approach me and simply say, "Thank you."

I usually say, "Shouldn't I be thanking you? Thank you for your love, for your support, which helped us get here every step of the way."

I thank all of Spain. I thank the entire country. But the fans feel they should thank us because we brought them joy. So as far as being on the street goes, my life has definitely changed. People are so enthusiastic that I can no longer move about freely as I once did.

How many WhatsApp messages did you receive after the final?

To be honest, I still have thousands of unread messages—nearly three thousand. I try to reply to as many as possible, but unfortunately, I cannot respond to all of them.

I greatly value interactions with people and attach great importance to human relationships. I have many friends and people who care about me, and they message me almost every day.

Since becoming world champion, how many invitations to events have you received? How many people want you to attend their events?

This is another thing that fills me with satisfaction, pride, and joy. There are countless invitations from all over Spain for all types of events—so many that we don't have time to accept them all.

You think to yourself, "Oh my goodness, what an honor." I try to attend as many events as I can because I feel it's part of my responsibility to get close to the fans who experienced everything with such intensity. Whenever possible, I'm willing to go anywhere I'm invited.

You just mentioned people. A few days ago when my contract was announced, Lozano said that ultimately everything depends on people as well. Isn't choosing the right people the most important part of your job?

Yes, this is very important. I would even say it's the most important part. Why? Because you must choose people who are not only professionally capable but also have good character. This is difficult—truly difficult—to judge until you really know them and can make an informed decision. Right now I'm fortunate to have many people around me who fully meet these requirements, which makes my selection decisions much easier.

Now you are world champion, Nations League champion, and European Championship winner. Looking back, how do you view that eighteen-month period without work and the first three months after signing with the Spanish Football Federation?

I look back on that experience with good feelings. It laid the foundation for my later decisions and was an important life lesson. I believe life is a continuous learning process. I always say I never stopped learning, and I still have the capacity and willingness to keep learning. I remain humbly aware that there is still much room for improvement.

That experience was a crucial lesson because it kept me grounded. Life cannot be all good all the time, and of course it cannot be all bad all the time either. But when difficult times come, you must have enough resilience to keep working, keep your head up, rise again and again, and move forward. Many people experience this. I am just one of many who faced this situation. But it—not "perhaps," but it definitely—made me deeply appreciate what truly matters in life.

Did faith help you during that time?

It helped me enormously. It helps me every day. Every morning when I wake up, I thank God for my good health and for the strength to face life, to continue fighting and to enjoy the moments worth enjoying.

Faith gives me the peace and stability I need to make decisions. Some decisions have significant consequences, but I can make them peacefully, guided by what I truly believe, while maintaining honesty and integrity.

In your book, you mentioned that you seem to have lived two very different lives, divided into two periods by faith. How did faith change you?

I have been a person of faith all my life. I was born into a Catholic family, and faith has always been with me. But there were periods when I strayed somewhat. I always had faith, but in certain aspects of my life, I genuinely lost my way.

During that time, I prioritized certain things above all else—not just above faith, but perhaps above friendship, loyalty, and other things. Later, certain experiences forced me to reconsider my life and reminded me, "Hey, this isn't right."

Fortunately, I have a wonderful family with great parents and siblings who have always stood by me, like Jiminy Cricket, gently reminding and occasionally guiding me. However, you only truly understand yourself when you fall, get back up, fall again, and get back up again. Only then do you begin making those important decisions. Nothing teaches you more than personal experience. Thank God, I have had many good moments and some not-so-good ones, and all of them have taught me greatly.

For modern players, it seems they can easily lose their way, don't you think? They get money and fame at a young age but lack the experience to handle it all.

Yes. However, I received guidance from an early age, and that person was my mother. My father also guided me, but he spent much of his time at sea—away for months at a time, sometimes up to eighteen months. He would return for one month and then leave again for a year. Imagine what that life was like. So my mother had to work and take on both roles, doing everything.

When people talk about humility, arrogance, and life's differences, I often think about how my mother taught me to know my place from an early age. Of course, afterward you still have to gradually manage things in life.

After I played in La Liga for the first time at age nineteen, I bought a large car. One year I returned to Haro as usual for the local festival. The first thing my mother did when she saw me driving that car was tell me to "sit down for a moment." She had me sit on the sofa and said, "Listen, Luis."

My mother's name is Berta, and she is well-known in that area. Everyone loves her and affectionately calls her "Berti." In a small place like that, everyone calls her "Berti."

She told me, "Son, sit here and listen to your mother. Here, you are not Luis de la Fuente. You are Berta's son." I said, "Okay, Mom. I understand."

I went and parked the car in the garage, already knowing what she wanted to tell me. When someone helps you know your place and puts things in order, you have a foundation for making decisions later. Those decisions may be right or wrong, but that experience laid the groundwork for who I am today.

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