For Spain’s national soccer coach Luis de la Fuente, the handball of his left-back Marc Cucurella in the European Championship quarter-finals in 2024 was only “an anecdote that in my eyes did not turn the game upside down”.
The 63-year-old said this in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (Thursday edition) and justified: “I think we were superior.”
The rules were also “clear” and said: “No handball!” If you want to talk about Cucurella’s hand, “we would also have to mention that in the scene a German striker was probably offside, or that Toni Kroos might have had to be off in the early stages of the game,” explained de la Fuente.
The coach was conciliatory that Cucurella after the 2-1 success of Spain after extra time after extension had a difficult stand and had to endure many whistles after extension with the German fans and had to endure many whistles: “We always felt welcome and warmly treated in Germany.”
After the European Championship triumph in Germany, the Nations League can now win, semi-final opponents on Thursday (9:00 p.m./ARD and DAZN) is France.
No game of the German national football team misses: RTL will broadcast on Sunday, June 8th, both the small final of the Nations League in the afternoon and the final in the evening live on free TV and in the stream to RTL+. The start of the game for third place is at 2:30 p.m., the TV reports for the final in the Munich Allianz Arena begin at 8:15 p.m.
The level of the often smiled-at-down tournament praised de la Fuente exuberantly: “You can hardly assess the Nations League high enough. The preliminary round is probably even more difficult than an EM because (in the A-League; d.Red.) The best 16 teams in Europe are playing.”