Wednesday 26 June, the day the group stage of the European Championships comes to an end, was also a day for friendly encounters and relaxed chats between the coaching staff and professionals from Spain working at the tournament.

Around fifty journalists, cameramen, photographers, producers and technicians who had come to Germany to cover the tournament attended the traditional lunch offered by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, which on this occasion was held very close to the national team's base camp in the German town of Donaueschingen.

To open the event, Luis de la Fuente greeted the group one by one, accompanied by the vice-president of the RFEF, Alejandro Morales Mansito, as well as his coaching staff, and then addressed them all, stating that "although we all have a heart that belongs to one football club or another, here there is no rivalry, as we are fighting for our country, a feeling and a fan base like the Spanish one. Let's value this".

"There is no rivalry here because we represent and fight for our country".

Without making explicit reference to the progress of the tournament, whose group stage Spain have finished with a historic run of victories, the coach from La Rioja promised the travelling media that "we are going to give our all for the rest of the European Championships, because we are aware that the excitement is great".

De la Fuente thanked the journalists for their coverage of the tournament, to whom he confessed that "we feel you are part of our family, be it the closest family or the most distant, and we hope that you feel the same way".

A vibrant applause came to mark the end of the kind words of the coach, who posed for a photo under the overcast German sky with all the representatives of the media, thus leaving them all with a great family photo that will give the national team luck for the rest of this year’s European Championships.