Success with Spain did not take long to arrive for the man now plotting England’s downfall on Sunday.
Luis de la Fuente joined the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) as Spain Under-19s manager in 2013, the same year Gareth Southgate became England’s U21 boss.
Within two years he had won the 2015 European U19 Championship with a squad featuring Mikel Merino, Unai Simon and Rodri.
By 2019, with Southgate by now England manager, De la Fuente had been promoted to Spain U21 boss and led them to Euros glory with a group of players including Simon, Fabian Ruiz, Mikel Oyarzabal and Dani Olmo.
Then, in 2021, he led Spain to a silver medal at the delayed Tokyo Olympics with Simon, Oyarzabal, Merino and Olmo, plus Pedri, Martin Zubimendi and Marc Cucurella.
Every player mentioned above has featured for Spain at Euro 2024 and De la Fuente has them all dreaming of more success against England in the final on Sunday.
The 63-year-old does not have a long list of elite clubs on his CV, and there are other similarities between him and Southgate.
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Like Southgate, he has faced sceptics who have questioned his aptitude for the job, amid claims he is simply “the federation’s man”.
De la Fuente was appointed Spain boss four days after their last-16 exit to Morocco at the 2022 Qatar World Cup. He suffered the early ignominy of defeat to Scotland in a Euro 2024 qualifier, but soon led Spain to the Nations League title last year.
Spain have scored 53 goals and won 16 of his 20 matches in charge. For Southgate, Sunday will be his 102nd game as boss. De la Fuente will take charge of a Spain team at any level for the 117th time — and only 16 have ended in defeat.
In terms of his side, De la Fuente has got the balance just about spot on. Alongside players he trusts from the youth set-up are experienced heads such as Dani Carvajal, Alvaro Morata and Nacho. And then the stars of this tournament: Nico Williams, 21, and Lamine Yamal, still 16 until Saturday.
While De la Fuente has not been unfaithful to Spain’s tiki-taka era, he has modernised it and made Spain more dangerous going forward.
Ominous for England is that free-flowing Spain, who have scored 13 goals at this Euros, switched into a pragmatic mindset once ahead against France in their semi-final. Southgate is similarly hard-wired, but Spain have shown a fluency to get ahead which England have lacked.
“The decision to appoint him as coach was because he had done well with the Under-21s”, explains Abraham P Romero, from Spanish newspaper El Mundo. “He has always been a coach ‘of the house’, of the federation.”
De la Fuente’s allegiances went too far last year, when he was forced to apologise for the “inexcusable error” of applauding disgraced RFEF president Luis Rubiales during the speech in which he refused to resign after forcibly kissing Jenni Hermoso following the Women’s World Cup final.
Like Southgate, De la Fuente has faced sceptics who have questioned his aptitude for the job
“At the beginning, he wasn’t popular because the public didn’t know him,” says Romero. “They wanted someone who could deliver results quickly and didn’t think it could be him.
“But you get popularity through results, and he has had them.”
In having to prove his worth — and in his 11-year route through the federation — his journey to Sunday’s final shares an uncanny resemblance to the coach who will be in the opposite dugout.
