(Reuters) – Spain manager Luis de la Fuente said on Wednesday that his team were eager to get back on the pitch after winning Euro 2024 in July and that his players’ hunger for constant improvement means there will be no let-up in intensity.
“This group is insatiable, competitive, relentless. They are very motivated to keep winning. The best is yet to come,” De la Fuente told a press conference ahead of his side’s Nations League opener at Serbia on Thursday.
“I see the players very focused and not being overconfident, with ambition and their feet on the ground, they only want to grow and improve. It won’t be hard for us to move on to the next one.”
On the back of a remarkable European Championship campaign where they won all seven games en route to lifting the trophy with a 2-1 victory in the final over England, De la Fuente said that the secret of Spain’s success was sharing an ambitious mentality in which winning has become an obsession.
“I have the honour of managing some exceptional footballers and my greatest merit is knowing how to manage them. We want, within an idea, to grow as team and enjoy ourselves on the pitch. But we only know one way to enjoy what we do: trying to win,” De la Fuente said.
“That is why we are always working to get the best out of the players, we are here to help because the credit is all theirs. In Spain, we have an inexhaustible pool of talent and we do a great job at grassroots level. That is the path we have built for years and we are convinced that it is the right one.”
After facing Serbia, Spain visit Switzerland on Sept. 8 in League A Group Four of the Nations League.
(Reporting by Fernando Kallas; Editing by Toby Davis)
