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On June 18, Tuesday, Luis Enrique and Luis Rubiales closed the technician's goodbye with a promise: "When you want to return, the doors of the Federation are open for you," the president told him. At that time, and with all the senses placed solely on the illness of his daughter Xana - who would die on August 29 - the Spaniard simply nodded. This Monday, November 18, the need, or rather the desire, to fulfill that promise stirred the hours before the national team match against Romania that closed the qualifying phase for the European Championship. He stirred them so much that everything broke out badly just after the referee whistled.

The return of Luis Enrique, then, takes shape and is expected to be official on Tuesday (12.30 pm), when Rubiales and the sports director, José Francisco Molina , give a press conference to explain what has already been said: Robert Moreno stops being a coach and he returned to office the one that was bet of the directive in the summer of 2018. Two and a half months after the death of his daughter, and against all the forecasts, Luis Enrique is willing to resume his professional career.

During a conversation between them both last week, he told Luis Rubiales, that he will be faithful to his word among other things because he blindly believes in Luis Enrique, which is not the case with Moreno. The return is great news even for the president himself, handcuffed since Friday when, unwittingly, he lit the fuse of a bomb that ended up exploding on Monday. It was in the Ramón de Carranza mixed zone after 7-0 to Malta.

Uncertainty in Cádiz

That day, the department of communication of the selection warns that Rubiales is going to speak, mainly because he wanted to presume that, once again, a Court had proved the Federation right in its constant litigation with LaLiga (this time it was on account of the famous Miami game). However, a very direct one slipped through the question wheel: can you assure that Robert Moreno will be in the Eurocup?

The balls outside Rubiales blew the alarms of doors outward, but also of doors inwards. When someone in his circle asked the president why he had not been more blunt and had confirmed Moreno as a technician, the answer surprised his interlocutor: "Because I can't." That is, while the issue - the imminent relay on the bench - was gaining strength among the press, the Federation could not be denied because, for a few days, Rubiales had made the decision to return Luis Enrique. At that time, we talked about Friday, neither did Moreno, visibly upset with questions about that matter. Some sources suggest that he learned of the return of his former boss on Sunday afternoon, hence the vehemence in his claim. "I wear a 10," he said.

Tears at the farewell

What would explain his reaction, furious, this Monday after the game is that it was at that moment when Molina told him that he would not continue (Molina, by the way, ruled out this movement on the return trip from Cádiz, in an informal conversation with several journalists). Then, full of rage, Moreno said goodbye to the players in tears and left through the back of the mixed zone. He did not want to talk to the press - although it is mandatory - and that suggests that he feels betrayed. Either by Luis Enrique, who was always defined as a close friend, or by Rubiales. Or for both.

The players, to all this, were stunned. An employee of the communication department forced them not to pass in front of journalists and take an alternative path. All, many of them ojipláticos, obeyed. On a horrific night, no one in the Federation voiced ridicule . Some members of the international press watched, amused, the scene. Funny and incredulous. They attended live a new blow to the prestige of a Federation that, since the arrival of Rubiales, has drawn episodes as spooky as the renewal, with the small mouth, of Lopetegui, the famous, famous, Krasnodar night , the relay (of one day for another) by Luis Enrique and, now, a night like Wanda's, irremediably way of being one of the blackest in the history of the Spanish national team.

This Tuesday it will be announced that the substitute for Robert Moreno as first coach is Luis Enrique. And it will also be announced that Juan Carlos Unzue will be the substitute for Robert Moreno as second coach. Because he won't be anyone's second coach. And that despite the fact that, on September 3, he said: "If Luis decides to return, he would be happy to step aside." But of course, he didn't expect to feel betrayed there.

Robert Moreno's matches

On behalf of Luis Enrique

March 26: Malta 0-2 Spain

June 7: Faroe Islands 1-4 Spain

June 10: Spain 3-0 Sweden

As a coach

September 5: Romania 1-2 Spain

September 8: Spain 4-0 Faroe Islands

October 12: Norway 1-1 Spain

October 15: Sweden 1-1 Spain

November 15: Spain 7-0 Malta

November 18: Spain 5-0 Romania

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  • sports
  • football
  • 2020 Euro Cup
  • Spain National Soccer Team
  • Robert Moreno
  • Luis Enrique

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