Former Spanish coach: 'I used to yell at Guardiola for talking about football

On the El Pais, Darau Coach Javier Clemente, once led the Spanish team to the World Cup 1994, Euro 1996 and the 1998 World Cup, recalled the time when "La Roja" was also known as the "King of the Race", the same memories of Luis Norfolk and Pep Guardiola.

Born in 1950, Clemente was the mentor of the current Spanish coach Luis de la Fuente, when both were still attached to Athletic Bilbao cross 1980. Together they captured two consecutive La Liga championships in the 1983s and 1984s.

The last World Cup was held in the U.S. in 1994, the league left the bitterness for the Spanish recruitment when Clemente's master stopped in the four-finals, with the same image of Ahmad with the bloody nose after the elbow-sponsoring from the Italian lineback Tassotti. Since then, the 76-year-old village's strategy has always reserved special affection for the captain of PSG and also Guardiola.

  • Cata Coach Javier Clemente in home Zarautz, Gipuzkoa, Queensland, Spain June 8, 2026. Image: El Pais*

*-What do you remember about the player's De la Fuente? *

  • Good boy. My journey with Luis carried the true nature of Bilbao, a very long way. I took him on the young team when I was 16. Luis initially kicked the front wing, but we pulled him back to the rear guard. Because of the wing kick, he's been cut down too much by his opponent. Luis is very skilled and has a speed tore the wind. As we analyze Luis' qualities, we begin to mold him in the game of an rear-guard. He has a great physical basis and excellent support. Later, I put him on the Bilbao B, and then went straight to the first team. In the 1980s La Liga Championship formation, there were up to 10 or 11 players I raised myself as a kid.
    • What was his real-life personality like then? *
  • Very funny! Always laughing his mouth when he was young. Only, a comfortable, intimate Luis when he is with us is completely different from a Luis when it comes to entering a strange environment, or when facing the media. I always had to urge him to study hard.

What Luis doesn't like is just learning. I keep complaining, "What are we gonna do this year, Luisito?". He said, "Teacher, I promise I'll start studying this year". I immediately threw it away: "Don't ever promise the deer the ape. Why don't you learn English, two sessions a week, one hour at a time? At least know some English." But every time he's old enough to edit: "Teacher, I promise I'll definitely study this year" (Laughter)

Luis de la Fuente of the time while wearing Athletic Bilbao (1881987). Image: Athlic Bil

    • Together with Bilbao, you won a consecutive La Liga championship in 1983 and 1984. Did he really believe his team could do that feat? *
  • I always said yes. I have my own worldview. Is there a champion? Let's reason this way: We're not the best, but let's just see which one I'm going to lose. Tell me! By my calculations, we had nothing to lose. And so we were champions. I've always been out on the field with a mind to never give in to Real Madrid or Barca, even if in my hands I'm just a "xg" team. The lake, our formation that day was much better than what people imagined.

*-But still, people lower that feat. They criticized Bilbao's game in his day as being not attractive. *

  • The media refuse to acknowledge us for what they call a "distribution", at least according to their claim.

*-So do you think, what's a rock or something? *

  • It's a win. It's a win! To beat you, I had to get the things you didn't want to do, I had to get you. Let me tell you something. On one occasion Barca finished the game in Almeria's courtyard and was in peace. When Xavi answered the interview, he said, "It's a shame, this isn't football. There's always a guy with a ball to me, he's got nothing to do but break it so I can't touch it." I sat down to watch TV and I thought to my stomach, "This guy is so stupid!". What does he want? Want an opponent to drop off a kicker or as brilliant as he is free to put a dozen goals in their net?

*-Do you like the playing of Spanish under the current De la Fuente? *

  • On the days when they promoted, when they didn't lose too much ball, I loved it because they played speed. Luis is really good.

Daniel Luis de la Fuente during the Spanish Draft session at Las Rozas Training Center, Las Rozas, Spain May 31, 2026. Image: Reuters

    • What strategies impressed him? *
  • I like Guardiola, I like Ahmad. They have very different styles, but still have similarities. They both built a really good football control game. But of course, they own strong, crazy formations. On his own, Ahmad, he pushed the speed of the attack on a level that was rarely caught up.

*-he used to lead both of them at the BCQG. Do you think they would be coaches then? *

  • Only Guardiola. He's a football freak. He's been talking about it all day. So I had to yell, "Hey, shut the fuck up, let's not talk about football." Having just finished the game, Guardiola has sat on his ass for a broken line at a 15-meter range. He wonders, "How can I pass that thing?". Guardiola is that kind of guy.

*-What was his feeling with the team before entering the 1994 World Cup? *

  • Faith that we will be invincible. At the time, we were the team that made the whole world afraid with the series of total wins...

*-What is the strongest weapon of that collective? *

  • The collective bond. Power and speed in every ball. We played very fast.

*-That dream broke up after Tassotti's elbow shock into Ahmad's face. What do you remember about that moment? *

  • I think FIFA's so-called commercialization has survived since. In the United States that year, if Italy entered the final, there would be two million Italian-born people pouring out into New York Street. As for the Spanish team, we arrived in the US with only 200. As a result, Tassotti was suspended 7 games, and the referee who caught the main game was awarded by FIFA for the final. That's ridiculous! Ahmad's blood spills. At the time I bluntly told Angel Prussian (The President of the Spanish Empire at the time): "Hmm, he patted his chest and managed to control FIFA's referee, but in fact he had no voice at all". He didn't want to get all worked up.

Luis Ahmad in Spanish draft colors following the elbow of the Italian rear guard Tassotti at the 1994 World Cup finals on Foxboro Field, Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA July 10, 1994. Image: L'Équipe

    • With the formation of that year, he gave birth to the 4-2-3-1 chart*
  • Do you know why? To cover for Guardiola. There was a fight I put Miguel Nadal to kick next to him, and there was Fernando Hierro, another Rafael Alkorta. Guardiola is the type of runner, asking for balls and regulation. But he's not physically strong. I said to myself, "This kid's been kicking for a half-hour and he's gonna be tired, if we can't finish the game, it's tough. We have to find someone to share the fire with him". That idea was born that way.

*-But he is often portrayed as a rough, dry tactical coach. *

  • The TV commentators just went on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. I just told the students: "Hey, guys, you gotta distinguish what it's like to be an innocent hit and a long pass. Breaking the ball is when a strong kicker goes 60 meters away and no ghost goes after him. The long pass is when the ball is raised and someone takes the ice to pick it up. The value is a runner, not a runner. If you know the way, when the ball is raised, you must run and pick it up, and don't let the world curse your teammates."

*-In the 1994 World Cup category round, in the game forced to win CH Ireland right in Dublin, he threw in the courtyard to seven guards. Why that weird decision?

  • It's one of those genius decisions that makes people call me crazy. It took me weeks to reflect on that battle, because Ireland was undefeated on the homeyard for eight years.
  • Cata Coach Javier Clemente in his hometown of Zarautz, Gipuzkoa, Queensland, Spain June 8, 2026. Image: El Pais*

*- How does the arrangement of seven guards make the victory easier? *

If you want to win a game, you're not allowed to play the game. If a team has a sub-strate weapon, such as they're playing non-violently non-final in the corner penalty, which we're not trying to fix, they're able to put three goals into our net. The strategy is there. For example, I was the one who introduced the defense system (the regional seat) into Spain.

    • How did that happen? *
  • When I was leading the Bilbao B team, I made my way to Ipswich Town – a team we didn't know about, but they were suddenly the 1981 UEFA Cup champion. It was a town with only about 100,000 inhabitants. I wonder, "How the hell are the UEFA Cup champions, past all German football teams, then Man City, Liverpool...? They have to have something." I watched them through TV and was especially attracted to the four-backed system that was horizontal, defense following the area. At the time in Spain, people remained loyal to the one-one-one-on-one stone track. After a rehearsal, Bobby Robson used the table and passed a translator to explain to me thoroughly.

*-And you were persuaded? *

  • Convince her! I started applying it in Bilbao B, and when we got to the 1st squad, we brought that system up to play in La Liga. All the other teams eventually learned. I think a lot about football. About space and everything around it. I'm a romantic in football. But a real romantic, not an empty philosophy. What I'm hunting is efficiency, it's forcing the opponent.

Sculpter

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Time: 8/5/2026 - 15/5/2026

**January (in El Pais)

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#[citation needed] World Cup 2026][citation needed][citation needed][citation needed]

[26 French recruits had nearly twice the market price of the Argentina championship, counting before the time of the 2026 World Cup.][htpts ://nvexpress.net/phap-so-dou-doi-hhit-dat-hhat-world-world (2005)