MATCH PREVIEW | Welcome to an Olympic year for Spanish football
Although the Royal Academy dictionary of Spanish reserves the disdainful adjectives of snooty and arrogant in its fifth description of the term Olympic, every time someone invokes the term, the glorious echo of the Ancient Games, where the best athletes competed to achieve glory and climb, boosted by their triumphs, to the summit of Mount Olympus itself, always comes to mind first.
It is to the mountain and home of the gods that our dictionary reserves the first meaning of Olympic, which from 22 March, is also the goal of a Spanish National Team, whose first stop in 2024 is, not by chance, in an Olympic stadium.
Click here to listen to Luis de la Fuente and captain Rodrigo Hernández’ comments before the match.
Friday (21:30 Spanish peninsular time with exhaustive coverage on La1) thus presents us with the first great challenge for everyone's favourite team. In an Olympic year, in Paris, with double national representation on the football pitch for the first time in our history, we find the road to success from the Olympic Stadium in London to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, the venue for our European Championships opener on 15 June and the stage for the continental final on Sunday 14 July.
Three days before Luis de la Fuente celebrates one year in the job, in what has been a successful time in charge of the national team, the coach from La Rioja has prepared thoroughly for this first window of 2024. The coach looks forward to two tough opponents in front of him and a squad of 26 players chomping at the bit, including three possible debutants: Remiro, Vivian and the very young Cubarsí, as Cucurella made his debut in the 2021 friendly against Lithuania.
Spain's shirt numbers for this game
With Brazil awaiting at the Bernabeu on Tuesday, Nestor Lorenzo's in-form Colombia and their 19 consecutive matches without defeat pose a difficult challenge for the national team, who, for the first time, will wear a new yellow kit on British soil.
De la Fuente will be able to count on all those called up being fully fit, although the absence of Gavi and Pedri could mean adjustments to a system which could change throughout the match thanks to the six substitutions agreed for this friendly match.
English referee Michael Oliver will be in charge of the match, assisted on the sidelines by his compatriots Lee Betts and James Mainwaring.
For their part, Colombia have a squad full of international stars and players with experience in the Spanish championship, such as Yerson Mosquera, Johan Mojica and ex-Madrid player James Rodríguez.
All in an Olympic setting like the London Stadium, where Rodrigo Hernández made his debut in English football, and which last decade hosted the closing ceremony of the Games of the XXX Olympiad.
For that occasion, the British host team, with. David Beckham as leader, were serenaded by the Queen song, Don't Stop Me Now. This Friday, it's up to the Spanish team to show that in this Olympic year we don't want anyone to stop us either.