Why Lionel Scaloni and Luis de la Fuente have 'a bit of history' after extraordinary full-circle moment that mirrors Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal

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Luis de la Fuente and Lionel Scaloni will meet in the 2026 World Cup final on Sunday night as managers of Spain and Argentina respectively, and in a remarkable quirk of fate, it brings them face-to-face years after they first got to know each other.

De La Fuente Scaloni

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Unlike the big club coach personalities of Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino and Carlo Ancelotti that were expected, by some, to dominate this World Cup, De la Fuente and Scaloni have shown the value of coming up through their country's coaching ranks.

Their clash on the sidelines on Sunday in New Jersey will be a fascinating one, with the two sides due to have met in the Finalissima back in March - a clash that was ultimately canceled due to escalating conflict in the Middle East.

It pits the Copa America victors against the European champions, but it also brings De la Fuente and Scaloni back together many years after they first met.

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With much of the talk prior to the final surrounding that viral Lionel Messi-Lamine Yamal photo, this is another full-circle moment that will also get its defining moment on the world stage.

Expanding on the pair's personal relationship is TNT Sports' Spanish football expert Phil Kitromilides.

"These two managers know each other very, very well," he said.

"Luis de la Fuente was giving classes to Lionel Scaloni when he was doing his coaching badges in Spain.

"One of the classes was taught by De la Fuente, and he's spoken about what Scaloni was like as a pupil, about how bright and intelligent he was.

"There were many other people doing those badges with perhaps bigger playing careers, maybe bigger names. But Scaloni stood out as someone who was obviously clearly intelligent, bright and ready to learn.

"So these two have got a bit of history and they are similar profiles, more low-key, more low profile, very much Federation men who have been appointed and had tremendous success.

"De la Fuente, the job that he's done with the Spain national team is just a continuation of what he's been doing throughout the youth teams as well. European champions at Under-19 level, Under-21s, took them to the Olympics, won medals there as well. This hasn't come out of nowhere.

"It's true that when De la Fuente was appointed as the manager of the Spain national team, a lot of people in Spain didn't know who he was. That's the kind of low-key profile that he has. Lots of people said, 'who's this guy'? OK, he's the Under-21 manager. Let's see how he gets on.

"It was an appointment at a difficult time for the Spanish Federation as well, coming after the Luis Rubiales scandal, and he managed to weather that storm and implement a footballing idea that has been extremely impressive and really successful. So there are definitely parallels between what De La Fuente has done and what Scaloni has done as well.

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Video credit: SNTV

"Scaloni, if you look at where Argentina were before he came, perennial underachievers, huge expectation but unable to really perform or get over the line in major tournaments, and now they've won Copa Americas, reaching the World Cup final twice in a row.

"It's a tremendous achievement from Scaloni, who's someone who, as well, similar to De la Fuente, I think when he was appointed, there were eyebrows raised, and a few questions, not quite 'who is this guy?' but really, 'is this who we are trusting with this generation of players?' He's definitely delivered, he's overachieved, I would say.

"So definite parallels, two men who know each other really quite well, and I think two men who will be very, very fascinated to come up against each other.

"Spain against Argentina in a World Cup knockout game, it's never happened before, and it's happening in a World Cup final."

De la Fuente reveals approach to marking Messi

In yet another moment of symbolism to add to the already captivating narrative around the game, it will not be the first time De la Fuente has come up against Messi.

The Spain boss detailed a previous run-in with the Argentina great - and how it might inform his strategy for dealing with the 39-year-old in Sunday's showpiece.

”I’m going to tell you something funny about Messi,” De la Fuente said.

”I met Lionel Messi when I was coaching at Sevilla in division de honour [the national Under-19 league in Spain] and we played a Copa del Rey game against Barcelona.

"We went to Barcelona. They had spoken very well about a boy called Messi. So, we put a man-marker on him. In the 70th minute it was 0-0. When they gave a yellow card to the player who was marking him, I took him off. And in 15 minutes, Messi scored four goals.”

De la Fuente added: ”Does that mean we are going to man mark him? No. Does it mean we will pay close attention to him? Yes, but in exactly the same way that they are going to have to pay attention to our players.”

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