The Spanish national team were held to a 2-2 draw by the Netherlands in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Nations League. The coach, Luis de la Fuente, appeared in the press room and gave his first conclusions after the match.

"It was a hard-earned draw and won with a lot of effort. We have suffered a lot because we have faced a great rival. The first and last few minutes were very good from our side, then the Netherlands took the initiative and that goal 50 seconds into the second half really hurt us. We had more intensity and dynamism, we ended up pushing them and we know that now we have to settle the game at home in Valencia," he began.

On the return leg in Valencia: "We have to try to impose ourselves on the pitch, recover our feelings, which after so many months without being together is difficult, precision in passing, to be more accurate in that phase of the game, but I am satisfied with what we have seen, we have a lot of talent between us and we are optimistic for the second leg".

Cubarsi's injury: "Cubarsi's injury doesn't seem to be serious. Le Normand also has a bad knock, and in case they can't come back, we're going to bring in Mario Gila. He will arrive tomorrow. We're going to cover our backs".

On the substitution of Lamine Yamal: "He's a fantastic guy, you have to understand that he knows when he has to sit down so that another team-mate can play. This is a team, what Dani Olmo, Mikel Merino or Oyarzabal think. It's a normal situation that perhaps from the outside is given more importance. He's only thinking about adding up".

Finally, Luis de la Fuente valued Dean Huijsen's debut: "The debut is great news for Spanish football. To see how he plays with confidence on his debut, with the pressure and that he does it naturally? I'm happy to add him to our family, he has had a fantastic attitude.

Mario Gila

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