It was one of the most unfortunate moments of this World Cup. In the middle of a ‘show’ that neither of the two delegations, the Argentine and the Spanish, liked at all, Luis De la Fuente had to ask for respect from those present after they booed and whistled at Rodri and the coach himself when Novak Djokovic gave them the floor at said event.
It was a joint event between Fanatics and FIFA that, on paper, could be spectacular. Rio Ferdinand, Kevin Hart, Novak Djokovic, Tom Brady and Kevin Durant presented and asked questions; present, Messi, Scaloni, ‘Dibu’, Rodri and De la Fuente. But the outcome was anything but positive.
Open to the public at the Fanatics Festival and held between the press conferences in Argentina and Spain (causing a significant delay in the previously set timings), De la Fuente was interrupted when he was going to respond to Djokovic in his first intervention of the afternoon.
“Good afternoon, it is a pleasure to be with you…”. And he had to stop. The boos and shouts against it were very loud. Inconceivable for an event of such magnitude and against a man, the Spain coach, who had just spoken at a press conference with absolute respect for Argentina, fleeing from any controversy and only leaving praise for the current World Champion.
I have been taught since I was little to be respectful to everyone, we should learn that lesson too
He didn’t tolerate it. Calmly, he answered the hundreds of people who had disrespected him and Rodri: “I have been taught since I was little to be respectful to everyone, we should learn that lesson too. Always be respectful.”
Scaloni, moments later, at a press conference, had a ‘wink’ for his friend De la Fuente when asked about the hug they gave at the end of the event: “I won’t say what I told him because we were in a surreal situation there, in the middle of nowhere… I told him I was coming for him, otherwise I wouldn’t have gone. And other things that I won’t tell you.”