Luis de la Fuente didn’t beat around the bush after being asked about the postgame brawl at the 2026 World Cup final. Spain‘s head coach voiced his honest thoughts on the matter while sending a clear message to both the Argentina national team and their head coach, Lionel Scaloni, whom he mentored years ago.
“Believe me that I didn’t notice [what was happening] at the time. I must have been celebrating with others, I didn’t realize. Certainly, that was inadmissible and intolerable for soccer players of that level,” de la Fuente said during an interview on Teledeporte.
“I had praised them every day going into the final, and still do, because they are great players. [Argentina] have a great head coach, who I’m sure went went through as hard a time as we did after seeing such reactions. What I do believe must be highlighted was our behavior. Especially after that kind of aggressions and provocations, our players always kept good sportsmanship.”
Reactions to the fight
De la Fuente isn’t the first—nor will he be the last—to speak on the incident. Argentina’s assistant coach Roberto Ayala expressed regret over his scuffle with Dani Olmo once the tension had settled after the heated showdown.
Leandro Paredes and Eric Garcia in a heated argument.
Moreover, Gavi addressed his fight with Leandro Paredes and the lack of a red card for the Argentine midfielder. As for Paredes, he hasn’t made any comment on the topic. Most likely, he won’t address it and simply move on.
How the fighting started
After referee Slavko Vincic blew the final whistle on extra time and Spain were crowned the 2026 World Cup champions, players on the bench flew onto the pitch. Some words must have been exchanged between Leandro Paredes and Eric García, as the Argentine shoved the Spaniard to the ground.
Gavi intervened but received the worst of it, being targeted by Paredes and, to a lesser extent, Thiago Almada. Lionel Scaloni stepped in to separate the fighting parties, while another quarrel broke out between Ayala and Olmo. After several intense seconds, the scuffle ended and the two sides went their separate ways.
With that, the 2026 World Cup had a conclusion on par with the extreme tension of the knockout stage, though far from what the spirit of sport and FIFA’s message aims to be.
