An elegant goodbye that hides a complex breakup. The facts are clear. The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) published a four-paragraph letter at 12:30 noon on Thursday announcing the end of Luis Enrique's stage as coach four years and 48 games after he was hired. The reason given was a "report" made by the sports management in which it was recommended to President Rubiales that he should "start a new project" in the senior team. That is to say, noting that the decision had been made by the RFEF, an extreme that is by no means trivial in this story. There was also room for praise in the letter, highlighting that the Asturian "managed to give a new impetus" to the team and wishing him "strongly the best of fortune".
Barely 45 minutes later, another federative letter, this time of six paragraphs, announcing the appointment of Luis de la Fuente as his replacement, as La Vanguardia had advanced. An appointment that will be effective on Monday, once it is approved by the RFEF board, nothing more than a bureaucratic procedure. The man from La Rioja, on the Federation's payroll since 2013 and in charge of the U-21 since 2018, will sign until Euro 2024 with the final four of the Nations League in June as the first major litmus test.
Finally, at 4:14 p.m., in the middle of siesta time, Luis Enrique himself published a farewell letter, in which he especially thanked Rubiales and Molina, the sports director, for their support, recalling "that they signed me twice", in reference to his parenthesis on the national bench after the death of his daughter Xana in 2019. The Asturian also requested all the support for Luis de la Fuente.
So far the chronological events of a morning without truce, neither in Las Rozas nor in Doha, where there are still many special envoys. Once the events precipitated in just 24 hours, it is not necessary to have too many concerns to wonder what has happened to say goodbye with a few lines to a coach who until very recently was protected and was almost idolized in the RFEF, all hopes being placed on his back to lead Spain back to the soccer elite.
What happened in the World Cup, an ugly goodbye against a clearly inferior rival like Morocco, has only brought to the fore a distance that is not new, but has been widening in recent months.
Luis Enrique had always gone hand in hand with Luis Rubiales and José Francisco Molina, the RFEF sports director. The triumvirate has endured great storms on its feet. In the worst sporting moments, the Asturian, always on the media target, received the unconditional support of his superiors. And when he lost his daughter, the Federation's behavior was exquisite, both personally and professionally, another circumstance that marks this story and that has allowed the goodbye that took place yesterday not to have been traumatic despite the obvious distance. Between the parts. The coach's gratitude to the RFEF, and especially to the president and sports director, is deep and sincere.
But the relationship between the three of them had cooled down lately. There has never been any friction or disagreement, but the distancing has been gradual. Luis Enrique attracts a lot of media attention, all the spotlights turn to him, self-erected, for example, as the leader of the national team. The RFEF has always been a bit in the shade. Rubiales, prudent and hopeful at first, has been increasingly uncomfortable with this situation. He does not consider it entirely fair. Without denying the merits of the coach, the Federation's efforts, especially when he is not going through a good time due to his legal conflicts, do not seem to shine. The coach's initiative to become a streamer during the World Cup at his own risk was one of the last straws.
Before the elimination against Morocco, Luis Enrique was much more outside than inside. Both parties saw it clearly. Only a feat in Qatar would have changed that fate. His last days in the concentration he lived them in a much more absent way than usual, less talkative, less interventionist, something that surprised the players themselves and several members of the expedition. As if the decision had already been made.
The premature return from the desert precipitated everything and neither party wanted to extend the situation any longer, agreed by both. Although it has been the RFEF, with the clear intention of recovering the attention of the spotlights, which has wanted to hang the medal and make it clear that the decision has been theirs. Luis Enrique did not want to reproach and has accepted it. In all this history it is necessary to mention another character, Albert Luque, until now adviser to the president and who will become the sports director of the team. Molina, wanting to sit on a bench, has decided not to continue in his position and before announcing the name of De la Fuente he agreed with Luque himself, who will open his new position in January 2023. Winds of change arrive in Las Rozas.
