Why is Luis Enrique the Lord of Fury? | OPINION

Even if today Spain scored as many goals for Germany as they scored against Costa Rica in their debut in Qatar, even so, the people of Madrid would maintain their reservations with Luis Enrique. They cannot forget what happened 26 years ago, when in the summer of 1996, after playing five seasons at Real Madrid, the Asturian striker will star in what is considered to this day the greatest betrayal in Merengue history: going to Barcelona (his case is known as “the reverse Figo”).

The worst thing for Madrid’s self-esteem is that Luis Enrique not only went to the rival club, but also became ‘Lucho’, a symbol of a culé team that was a forerunner of the style and system that Messi and company would later lead to excellence (in In fact, during the last stretch of that superb stage, the one who led Barza was Luis Enrique himself).

On Friday, in a Madrid bar, I asked two Spanish friends what they thought of the coach. They both put on a circumstantial face. On the one hand, they recognize that he was a very committed player with the national jersey, that he never gave up the ball and that, if he was inspired, it could be lethal for his rivals. Not for nothing was he part of the team that won Olympic gold in Barcelona 1992, and he came to play in three World Cups (nobody forgets the scene after the elbow that Tassotti applied to his nose, in the United States 1994 the day Italy eliminated Spain : Rarely has so much blood been seen in a football close-up). However, despite his good performances as a player, his generally positive performance as leader of the national team (in the last Euro Cup he led the ‘Red’ to the semifinals, where he lost, again, against Italy), today his renovating sports project does not have unanimous support.

Many welcome the call for a handful of talented, very young players (here Pedri and Gavi are already being compared to Xavi and Iniesta), but at the same time they wonder: who will bring out their experience and temperament when the World Cup gets tough? up? Can Busquets, at 34, do it alone? They also question him not having brought Borja Iglesias or Iago Aspas, fashionable players in the League, although Luis Enrique confesses to having him as a starter in his La Liga Fantasy lineup, a virtual game.

One of my friends reminds me of what happened to Luis Enrique’s youngest daughter, Xana, who died at just five years of age due to bone cancer; Without a doubt, the most heartbreaking chapter in the technician’s biography. Despite this circumstance, His critics do not hesitate to point out the arrogance and air of superiority that the technician shows when he is asked uncomfortable questions. And yes, everything is said, Luis Enrique does not get along with the press, he avoids interviews, since he arrived in Qatar he communicates via streaming, through his Twich channel (“on-demand conferences”, says the journalist Manuel Jabois). There he gives a detailed account of the training sessions and gives his opinion on everything, even the advisability or not of sexual relations before decisive matches.

At the age of 53, Luis Enrique will seek to win with Spain and thus ingratiate himself with a demanding fan base that, since 2010, has expected their team to repeat the dish and not be content with eighths or quarters. If he succeeds, he will only have one objective left to achieve, perhaps the most important for him: managing Sporting de Gijón, the club from the city where he was born, where one day, as a very young boy, he began to dream of a life that would be time, with luck, or with dedication, could dedicate to soccer.