Discover Spain's EURO 2024-winning FM24 tactic under Luis De La Fuente. Recreate his innovative approach and dominate your saves!
Recreate Luis De La Fuente’s EURO 2024-winning FM24 tactic and transform
your team into champions!
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In 2022, Spain disappointingly bowed out of another international competition, following a shocking loss on penalties to eventual semi-finalists Morocco in the World Cup. The loss meant Spain hadn’t won an international tournament in 10 years. As a result of this unexpected defeat, Spain appointed the relatively unknown Luis De La Fuente – who'd been successfully managing the country’s U18, U19, U21 and U23 sides. De La Fuente’s stint as Spain head coach started as it meant to go on, as he quickly led the team to a Nations League victory, following wins against previous European champions Italy and 2018 & 2022 World Cup semi-finalists Croatia. However, in the summer just gone, Luis De La Fuente went one better and won the EUROs, following a 2-1 win against England in the final. In this article, I’ll be going through my recreation of Luis De La Fuente’s tactics with Spain and will providing my short analysis of the system, and how I let my findings influence my decisions in game. Firstly, let’s have a look at the core principles of this system.
Eliminating the ‘Box’
In European and International football nowadays, it is not uncommon to see teams trying to create a central ‘box’ with their midfield/attack. The most successful club sides and found this idea to bear fruit, and therefore, it’s now a staple of the tactical landscape in modern football. However, Luis De La Fuente didn’t put an emphasis on this ‘box’ in midfield, and instead opted for a classic midfield-three, even when Spain had taken control of possession for lengthy passages. This may seem out-of-fashion, however, in my opinion, this tweak has been a long time coming – especially with most top sides now setting up a 4-4-2 defensive shape, in an attempt to eliminate the ‘box’ in midfield. This approach may seem quite easy to read and, therefore, predictable. However, the players’ movements off-the-ball meant Spain weren’t reliant on being unpredictable.
Breaking the Tactical Mould
Throughout recent history, Spain have been married to systems featuring short and patient possession. And whilst this approach has been successful, especially in the late 00s and early 10s, it’s recently been the side’s kryptonite, as they went through an 11-year wait for an international trophy. Luis De La Fuente, however, has divorced that idea, and has opted for an exciting brand of attacking, positive football – and this was arguably the biggest reason for Spain’s success in the recent EUROs. This doesn’t mean Spain give up possession, however, it does mean the team are far more likely to play a speculative long pass, in an attempt to catch teams in transition/out of possession. Although, saying that, Spain did break their 136-game record for having more possession than their opponents in a game, with the side accumulating just 46% possession in a 3-0 win over Croatia on Matchday One of EURO 2024.
Let’s Break Down the Tactic
In Possession
When Spain had the ball, they would look to assert themselves in the match, and this would see them aim to dominate possession. They would do this by prioritising shorter passes, however, they would have a tendency to play more direct passes into space, for an attacker to chase. To recreate these things, I applied the team instructions pictured in the photo above.
In Transition
When Spain lost the ball, they would immediately look to counter-press in an attempt to regain possession. If they did win the ball back, unlike previous Spain sides, they would look to immediately hit teams on the counter-attack. When Unai Simon had the ball, he’d prioritise short passes out from the back, primarily to the centre-backs and full-backs. If the centre-backs weren’t available, he was more than comfortable spraying a line-breaking pass into a central midfielder, which he would often do. To recreate these things, I applied the team instructions pictured in the photo above.
Out of Possession
When Spain didn’t have the ball, they would initiate a structured press that was heavily reliant on tight marking. This would see them choosing when to press, rather than pressing all the time. When they did initiate the press, they were quite aggressive in their attempts to win back the ball – this could see them giving away fouls. This was also pivotal when they engaged in the ‘dark arts’ of football, as they’d regularly make cynical challenges in order to waste time. Finally, when they did press, Spain would close off passing options centrally, forcing the opposition into wide areas. To recreate these things, I applied the team instructions pictured in the photo above.
Player Instructions
Sweeper Keeper – Attack
When Spain was building up, Unai Simon would regularly move forward to form a back-three with the two centre-backs ahead of him. From here, he could support the build-up play. When Spain didn’t have the ball, Simon had the responsibility of sweeping loose balls in-behind. Therefore, I chose this role and duty. No additional player instructions.
Full-Back – Support
Carvajal, in this system, was the more defensive-minded of the two full-backs as he’d look to maintain the team’s rest defence. This would see him move slightly narrower at times. He was allowed, at times, to get forward to support, however, this was rare. Therefore, I chose this role and duty, with the additional player instruction:
(DCR) Ball-Playing Defender – Defend
Both centre-backs in this system, Le Normand and Laporte, were incredibly comfortable with the ball at their feet. This would see them often spray line-breaking passes into advanced players. The right-sided centre-back, however, was slightly less adventurous with the ball at their feet. Therefore, I chose this role and duty. No additional player instructions.
(DCL) Ball-Playing Defender – Defend
As implied above, the left-sided centre-back was the more adventurous player of the pair with the ball at their feet. This would see him carry the ball forward more often. Therefore, I chose this role and duty, with the additional player instruction:
%20Ball-Playing%20Defender%20%E2%80%93%20Defend.webp "(DCL) Ball-Playing Defender – Defend")
Full-Back – Attack
The left-back in this system, usually Marc Cucurella, would be given far more licence than the right-back to get forward and affect the game higher up the pitch. This would often see Cucurella and the left-winger, Nico Williams, rotate positions and you would regularly find Cucurella sat in the left half-space and make underlapping runs. When he did have the ball, Cucurella would regularly look to play passes in-behind for Nico Williams to chase. Therefore, I chose this role, with the additional player instructions as seen below:
Defensive Midfielder – Support
Rodri, in this position, was mainly tasked with recycling possession and shielding the back-four – a job he was excellent at. This would see him hold his position when Spain were in the attacking third. Therefore, I chose this role, with the additional player instruction as seen below:
Box-to-Box Midfielder – Support
Fabian probably played the best football of his career in this competition, and that’s due to him being given licence to get up and down the pitch, and use his excellent passing ability and composure to affect both halves of the pitch. In this position, you’d regularly see him support the side’s build-up play by dropping deep. However, you’d also just as regularly see him making box-crashing runs into the penalty area and get onto loose balls on the edge of the penalty area. When at the edge of the penalty area, Fabian could show immense skill and calmness to meticulously dribble the ball in an attempt to work a shooting angle – which was seen with his goal vs Croatia on MD1. Finally, Fabian would usually move wider to create triangles with Nico Williams and Marc Cucurella. Therefore, I chose this role, with the additional player instructions as seen below:
Advanced Playmaker – Attack
Dani Olmo’s impressive performances from this EUROs campaign were the catalyst of his move to FC Barcelona, worth around a reported £47m + add-ons. In this system, his (and Pedri’s) movement in-between the defensive and midfield lines caused havoc for opposition defences, who couldn’t figure out how to handle it. He’d frequently roam laterally and vertically, and would often be found in dangerous pockets. From there, he could use his immense creativity and precise vision to supply for his team-mates and himself. When Spain didn’t have the ball, Olmo, in particular, would strive to win the ball back. Therefore, I chose this role, with the additional player instructions as seen below:
Inverted Winger – Attack
Lamine Yamal made history in EURO 2024, as he became the youngest player to ever feature in the competition. His elite performances for FC Barcelona clearly carried over to the national team, and the pressure of a major international tournament clearly didn’t faze him as he destroyed the competition, accumulating 5 goal contributions, including an outrageous curling effort against France in the semi-finals. From this position, Yamal was given some positional freedom, as he was allowed to hold the width or drift inside when the team were in-possession. When he received the ball, Yamal would frequently take on his man, before looking to create for others. Finally, Yamal seemed to have mastered the art of a whipped cross in this competition, as he regularly whipped in sumptuous crosses from the right-side. This was especially successful against Georgia in the Round of 16 and Croatia on MD1, as he set up goals for Fabian and Carvajal respectively. Therefore, I chose this role, with the additional player instructions as seen below:
Inside Forward – Support
Like Yamal on the other side, Nico Williams was given licence to pick and choose when he’d hold the width or come inside. However, his movement off-the-ball was slightly different to Yamal’s, as Williams would regularly make runs in-behind. Therefore, I chose this role and duty. No additional player instructions.
Pressing Forward – Attack
In this position, Alvaro Morata would also regularly make runs in-behind. However, he could also drop off slightly to receive in-between the lines, before quickly passing the ball into Olmo or a winger. When Spain didn’t have the ball, Morata would work his socks off to win the ball back, and would lead the team’s press, alongside Dani Olmo. Therefore, I chose this role and duty. No additional player instructions.
Results
I’ll be posting individual match results (including a 6-1 win!) and my second seasonal test with Arsenal on my Twitter/X profile @AshtonGgmu.
However, let’s have a look at how Spain did in EURO 2024 on Football Manager!
EURO 2024
In the EUROs, we ended up winning the competition after a 0-1 win against EURO 2020 winners Italy in the final. On the way to the final, we topped a group containing France, Norway and Hungary, before beating Sweden, Denmark and Croatia 5-1, 3-1 and 3-1 again respectively. We scored the most goals in the competition, with 22 goals, whilst conjuring the 3rd highest average possession in the competition (57%) and keeping the 2nd most clean sheets (3).
Conclusion
23 months ago, Spain was heartbroken again in international football, as they suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of Morocco. As a result, Spain appointed an exciting, young coach and reaped the rewards, as 19 months later, his youthful, energetic and rejuvenated side swept the competition away to win their first major international trophy in 12 years. However, they didn’t achieve this by playing the same brand of ‘boring’ football most sides play. They were easily the most exciting and entertaining side in the competition, and they showed that you don’t need the ‘tactical meta’ to win major trophies. In this article, I have shown you my tactical recreation of this Spain side, and demonstrated the strong results the tactic achieved in testing. If you want a taste of this thrilling tactic, make sure to download the tactic using the link attached to this article and follow FM Blog and myself on our respective socials. I hope you have enjoyed this article, and I wish you much success with this tactic on your saves! Thanks for reading!
