World Cup: ‘They scored four goals in 15 minutes’ – Spain coach recalls first meeting with Messi

Spain head coach, Luis De la Fuente has recalled his experience with Lionel Messi during their time in the Spanish LaLiga

While De la Fuente was the manager at Sevilla, Lionel Messi was the main man at Barcelona.

As De la Fuente leads Spain in the 2026 FIFA World Cup encounter against Argentina on Sunday, the Spaniard must consider how to go about preventing Messi from causing damage to his side

Messi has shown he can cause teams trouble in the tournament, scoring eight goals already

Speaking ahead of the match as quoted by Sport, the former Sevilla boss recalled how Messi and Barcelona side scored four goals in fifteen minutes against his team.

“I met Messi when I was coaching Sevilla’s youth teams,” he revealed.

“We were 0-0 when they gave a card to the player marking him. They scored four on us in 15 minutes.”

Messi avoided punishment for a clear red card tackle in their opening game against Algeria, while many football followers believe that Argentina has been handed an easy path to the final.