The Spanish team returns to the people

Luis de la Fuente finished commenting on his first list for the Spanish soccer team last Friday and announced something that sounded revolutionary: the first training session of the new era, this Monday at 7:00 p.m., would be open to the public, something that It had not happened since November 2019, with Robert Moreno on the bench: “It is a new stage.

We want to walk a path, and that happens because the fan feels very close to us, ”he explained.

And this Monday, at 10:00 a.m., nine hours before the start of practice, small groups of young people were already hanging around the Ciudad del Fútbol de Las Rozas, watching for the arrival of the internationals, scheduled before 1:00 p.m.

Behind the federation gate, in the residence building, Luis de la Fuente was waiting for them for the first reception, which in many cases was a reunion with fundamental footballers for him in his previous stages at the house, such as Dani Ceballos, Fabián Ruiz, Mikel Merino and Martín Zubimendi.

The 26 that arrived in Las Rozas were not the 26 announced on Friday.

Pedri and Gerard Moreno were missing, injured since then, and Borja Iglesias and Yeremy Pino appeared, who knew on Friday that he should go to Madrid on Monday, but because Santi Denia had called him for the Under-21s.

With everyone already in the residence, De la Fuente addressed them as a group before eating.

A joint welcome talk before lunch, a nap time and another little chat that is more sporty before the opening training session.

After Moreno, the pandemic and Luis Enrique cloistered the team.

So almost four years after the last time, and a couple of hours before the work session began, a long line snaked up and down at the doors of the federation headquarters under the gaze of the Civil Guard and the Police. Las Rozas location.

At 18.00 the concentration continued to increase and the doors were opened.

Almost two thousand people entered, who saw the old scaffolding from which Luis Enrique directed the sessions.

This time it was occupied by a camera that recorded the session and the crowded stands in front of it, with a couple of hundred people leaning out on the balcony without seats in one of the funds.

The practice, light after the recent day of the national championships from which the troops arrived, and in which the classic decided the League, took place in a happy atmosphere, of purely childish illusion.

It was a spring Monday and a holiday in Madrid, for Father's Day the previous Sunday.

After half an hour, Dani Olmo, Morata, Ceballos, Nico Williams, Oyarzabal and Mikel Merino rehearsed attacks with openings to the wing, crosses and shots in the area, while the rest carried out exercises on mats on the wing.

The stands celebrated each goal, regretted each failure.

The excited shouting was formidable.

Then Dani Carvajal began to walk towards the stands, accompanied by Nacho and Joselu, a trio of Real Madrid youth players.

The enthusiastic outburst surpassed that of the blank goals while little by little the other footballers followed them.

They signed T-shirts, scarves, caps;

and dozens of selfies were taken while Luis de la Fuente walked to the other end where he ended up disappearing.

He had taken a simple and revolutionary step, but football is ahead of him: Spain faces Norway on Saturday in Malaga (20.

You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on