De la Fuente denies racism exists in Spain ahead of England clash

Luis de la Fuente sparked controversy by claiming there is “no racism in Spain” ahead of Spain’s match against England at the Metropolitano, counting towards matchday six of the Nations League.

It all began on Friday during Thomas Tuchel’s press conference. The England manager had simply indicated he wanted to remind his players of the anti-racism protocol. “We may need to take five minutes to remind the players of this protocol. It’s important they know it. And of course we will respond if such things happen. The best responses are those on the pitch,” he said.

These remarks were enough to trigger a surprising reaction from his Spanish counterpart. “What I’m going to tell you, and you can pass it on to Thomas, is that there is no racism in Spain. It’s that simple: there is no racism. Just as in England, where nobody is racist either, in Spain, none of us are racist,” De la Fuente said.

These statements directly contradict the facts. On 31 March, the match between Spain and Egypt was marred by racist chanting, an episode that was documented and widely reported at the time.

Tuchel, for his part, made no secret of his irritation at how the matter had escalated. “I had the courtesy to answer a question from one of your colleagues and you run off to question the Spain manager to tell him that I spoke about racism,” he complained, visibly annoyed at being drawn into a diplomatic controversy against his will.