De la Fuente Reassures Spain on Yamal's Fitness Ahead of World Cup Final

Lamine Yamal walked off with the stadium still shaking, but the real noise came later, from living rooms and phones across Spain. Was he hurt? Was the teenage phenomenon about to limp out of the biggest game of his life?

Luis de la Fuente moved quickly to shut that down.

The Spain head coach confirmed after the 2-0 semi-final win over France on Tuesday that the Barcelona prodigy has avoided serious injury, despite being seen limping at different points of a ferocious contest.

“Lamine doesn't have anything that I know of. I've spoken with the doctors now,” De la Fuente said, offering the reassurance a nation wanted to hear as La Roja prepare for Sunday’s World Cup final.

The concern now sits elsewhere in his squad.

Pedro Porro, who started at right-back and worked relentlessly up and down the flank, is being monitored for a muscle strain after he was replaced by Marcos Llorente in the 85th minute. The issue, De la Fuente suggested, stems from sheer workload.

“Pedro Porro seems to have overuse injuries, but we'll see tomorrow,” he explained, careful not to rush any conclusions with the final looming.

A statement win, not a lucky break

Beating the 2018 world champions in a World Cup semi-final can sometimes be framed as a one-off, the night when everything just falls your way. De la Fuente rejected that idea outright.

Reflecting on the performance that carried Spain into the final, he spoke with the conviction of a man who believes his team’s rise has been years in the making, not weeks.

“I'm surprised by what this team is capable of, and the room for improvement is endless,” he said. “This isn't by chance: it's talent, hard work, sacrifice, perseverance, and we knew we had to keep improving little by little throughout the tournament.”

Spain did not sweep through the group stage unblemished, and De la Fuente openly admitted they had chased more than just qualification.

“We would have liked to win the first match, because we would have broken another record,” he noted, a small regret in the middle of a monumental run. “But we're in fantastic form, both in terms of our football and our physical condition.”

The semi-final display against France showed exactly that: intensity without panic, control without caution, and a group of players willing to run, press and suffer for each other.

“The best at understanding the game”

De la Fuente’s admiration for his players spilled over into something broader: a defence of an entire footballing culture.

“For me, Spanish footballers are the best at understanding the game in the world, and that's an achievement of Spanish coaches and clubs,” he said. It was not a throwaway line. It sounded like a manifesto.

He called his squad the pinnacle of international football, yet refused to indulge in the idea that the job is almost done. The rhetoric around finals, the stories, the slogans — he brushed them aside.

“We're happy, but we're not satisfied with this,” he insisted. The message was clear: a semi-final win over France is a landmark, not a destination.

“What's coming is more difficult, and we're eager to play the final. But the final is meant to be played; I'm not one for literary phrases. How could you not be happy to play in a final! Whether you win it or not... there's an opponent. I greatly value the journey, and that's what makes us very strong and allows us to appreciate what we achieve.”

The journey now has one last stop: a final against either England or Argentina, and a chance to echo the golden summer of 2010.

A call from the king, a country on edge

If the scale of Spain’s achievement needed a symbol, it came with a ringtone.

The significance of reaching another World Cup final was underlined by a phone call from King Felipe VI, who contacted the squad to congratulate them on their success and to urge them on for the last step.

“It is a great honor that our king calls us, cares about us, and constantly encourages us,” De la Fuente said. “To be the architects of the joy of a country so devoted in the streets, with a generation that has a commendable attitude.”

He spoke like a man who understands the emotional weight his team now carries. The streets are filling, the flags are out, and a new generation is trying to write itself into the same history books as Iniesta, Xavi and Casillas.

“Let's enjoy it, the hardest step is still to come, we have to improve and that's what we're working on,” he added.

Yamal is fit. Porro waits on scans. Spain wait on an opponent.

One match stands between this team and immortality.