The difficult reinvention of Luis Enrique with Spain

• Chronicle.The harsh reality of Spain: it loses to a Ukraine full of substitutes

• Luis Enrique. "Blaming De Gea is already a vice"

• Groups.This is the League of Nations

At the

the Spanish team played one of the most beautiful matches in memory.

No. It was not the one on Tuesday night that ended in defeat against

, but that final of the Euro 2012 against

(4-0) that already had the aroma of the last dance.

Because after the children of the soccer players went out to frolic with the confetti, Spain threaded the decrepitude of the World Cup in Brazil (2014) with the failed attempt of resurrection in the Eurocopa de Fran

cia (2016) and the definitive grotesque of the World Cup in Russia (2018).

, To who

, president of the Federation, entrusted the thankless task of creating a new winning project, he is at it with the difficulties of a Spanish football that has little to do with that of a decade ago.

With a League in obvious decline, with no more iconic figures beyond

(sole survivor with

of the aforementioned final in Kiev), and with the meritocracy as an incentive for that good handful of young people who piled up in the coach's calls.

None of that seems enough yet.

As a metaphor for this new cycle it remains

, a footballer to whom Luis Enrique opened the exit door in his time as Barcelona coach, and suddenly (152 minutes of play) became the only exit to the team's game. Statistics always leave the interpretation to the consumer's taste.

The generation of footballers that Luis Enrique now turns to has nothing to do with the one that linked the triple crown under the command of

Y

.

But high-level football always puts records like those currently presented by the coach under suspicion.

Since

, who was crucified by the poor role of Spain in the 1982 World Cup, no coach had achieved all three defeats as quickly as Luis Enrique.

For the Uruguayan, seven games were enough.

The Asturian, with 12 (between officials and friendlies, and not counting the matches against Malta, the Faroe Islands and Sweden in which his then second,

, assumed the bench as interim).

From Lopetegui to Del Bosque

In search of immediate references, Vicente del Bosque reached the third defeat after 36 games.

They also lengthened the moment Luis Aragonés (30),

Javier Clemente

(24) or

Jose Antonio Camacho

(23), while

Julen lopetegui

(20 directed) or

Robert Moreno

(nine) not only did they not make that third knockdown, they never lost.

Fernando Hierro

He had enough to keep the boat afloat until the fall in the penalty shootout of the eighth World Cup in Russia. Luis Enrique's percentage of victories as coach (seven wins, two draws and three losses) is 58.3%.

Record that leads to broadening doubts beyond recurring debates such as that of the

nine

(neither

Oyarzabal

, despite his goal against Switzerland, nor

Rodrigo

have managed to fill the area's sinkhole, while

Alcacer

or

Blades

they are claimed again from the media pulpit);

or the goal, with

From Gea

Again discussed after a mistake in Kiev Luis Enrique does not have a referential club.

The eleven starters against Ukraine play on eleven different teams.

Nor does it have a stable group (12 different lineups and 52 footballers employed).

Reaching the national team is no longer a chimera for a middle class forced to perform like the missing upper class.

It doesn't seem easy.

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