It is curious what is happening in Spain with this Euro. Never before have people in Spain cared so little about what the Spanish national team does, it's not even comparable to when Javier Clemente was coach in the 90s when the majority of Spaniards hated the coach. When the tournament started 50-60% of Spaniards didn't care what Spain did and 20-30% wanted them to be eliminated in the first round. Why? In a country where football is a mass phenomenon like England or Argentina and which has always followed its national team with fervour, this is very strange. But all this has a culprit and his name is Luis Enrique.
Luis Enrique, the current Spanish national team coach, is rejected by 60-70% of the people. Not even if he won the European Championship would that percentage drop significantly. Why? First of all because of his character, he was already more or less like that when he was a player, and as a coach it has worsened. He is a surly, arrogant and conceited person (as shown by his statements yesterday where he said that "the leader of this national team was him"). He can't stand to be contradicted in the slightest, he thinks he is above good and evil and believes he is always right. Of course nobody knows about football except him, he is at permanent war with journalists who dare to question any of his approaches, a guild that, with honourable exceptions, I deeply despise because I have worked close to them (not with them) for almost thirty years and I know how they behave and what their work ethic is.
In short, if Spain wins today people will rejoice but without excesses, if they lose there will be no dramas as on other occasions.
On the other hand, this morning I heard on the radio that tickets for the match are between 180 and 450 euros, which seems to me to be a real robbery. Ceferin and his henchmen in action again.
And as an anecdote, the Spanish Football Federation has launched a campaign for English people to encourage the national team with some striking posters, I leave you a couple of them (there are four, the other two allude to the sun and La Macarena).
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