Spain coach Luis de la Fuente says his side will not look to mark Lionel Messi out of the World Cup final.
The Argentina legend has been in sparkling form at the grand age of 39 and could win the Golden Boot if he helps his country to back-to-back World Cups.
Spain won the Euros in 2024 and are also looking to make history of their own.
Spain are unbeaten in 37 matches since losing to Colombia in March 2014 but face arguably the greatest player of all time.
“I’m going to tell you something funny about Messi,” De la Fuente said. “Look, I met Lionel Messi when I was coaching at Sevilla in division de honour [the national under-19 league] and we played a Copa del Rey game against Barcelona.
“We went to Barcelona. They had spoken very well about a boy called Messi. So, we put a man-marker on him. In the 70th minute it was 0-0. When they gave a yellow card to the player who was marking him, I took him off. And in 15 minutes, Messi scored four goals.”
De la Fuente continued, laughing: “Does that mean we are going to man mark him? No. Does it mean we will pay close attention to him? Yes, but in exactly the same way that they are going to have to pay attention to our players.”
Spain’s attacking hopes may rest on young Lamine Yamal on Sunday.
Asked whether Lamine Yamal was the nearest thing that Spain had to Messi, De la Fuente replied: “Lamine has to be Lamine. Messi can never be repeated. He is an extraordinary talent and above all an example for young players in his attitude, his behaviour, the spectacular World Cup he is producing and the age at which he is producing it. It will be a great show between two super teams. It will be a game of talent, brilliance, great play.”
De la Fuente dismissed suggestions this final was “all or nothing”. “What is important is to be in the position to win it,” he said. “Let’s enjoy it, play our way, value this. If you said we could play a World Cup final every year and lose, I would sign up for that.”
