Luis de la Fuente, coach of the Spanish national team, defended the Barcelona club star after this player's brilliance with La Roja in the World Cup tournament, justifying the reason for the non-participation of the Blaugrana goalkeeper, Juan Garcia, in the Mundial.
The Spanish national team succeeded in winning the World Cup title for the second time in its history, after defeating Argentina by one goal to nil last week, with Ferran Torres scoring La Roja's only winning goal.
De la Fuente spoke in statements to the newspaper "AS" about the reason for Eric Garcia's participation, the Barcelona player, in extra time alongside Arsenal star Martin Zubimendi, saying: "That was for a good reason, as you know, they are at the peak of their level, you have followed them in the training sessions we conducted, we knew they were capable of delivering an excellent performance from the start, and I felt very sorry for all the players who did not participate, and as for Eric Garcia, what can I say? He is a wonderful player".
Read also .. The World Cup and the Champions League.. The Spanish school dominates the big titles in the 2025/2026 season
De la Fuente praised Ferran Torres, adding: "I was very happy with Ferran scoring the winning goal, as I am a person who always seeks fairness, and when I see injustice and exaggerated and unjustified criticism, especially if it is malicious, I realize that life gives us an opportunity to correct our mistakes and prove our worth".
He explained: "Ferran has amazing statistics with the national team, as is the case with his club, his goal-scoring rate per match is wonderful, he reminds me a little of Alvaro Morata, I am pleased to see people, in the face of injustice, able to say I am here, and in this case, he deserved it with merit, because someone else might have given up".
He explained the reason for Juan Garcia's non-participation in the World Cup, and relying on Unai Simon instead of him, adding: "The goalkeeper position is somewhat special, you cannot make changes as is the case in other positions".
He praised the maturity of the Barcelona duo, Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi, despite their young age, concluding: "While your friends are in high school or starting university, people like Lamine or Cubarsi have an exceptional level, they have maturity and intelligence, for me, they are geniuses".
