Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente has confirmed his team will not deploy a dedicated man-marking scheme against Lionel Messi in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final. Instead, de la Fuente plans to give the Argentine captain “special attention” within a cohesive defensive structure, a decision rooted in a painful personal history with the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner.

The backstory behind the decision

When he managed Sevilla’s youth team, he once assigned a dedicated marker to a young Messi during a Copa del Rey match. That marker got substituted. Messi promptly scored four goals.

“We won’t use man-to-man marking this time,” de la Fuente said in his pre-final press conference, citing the risks of…