Fabi\u00e1n does not use many words and is not really given time to do so, but one he comes back to is natural. The debates? They are for other people. Yet Fabi\u00e1n says: \u201cSometimes things don\u2019t go the way we would like; we\u2019re working to ensure they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Spain, the opening to the tournament was dominated by the fitness of Lamine Yamal, at 18 already a player who eclipses all else and who had been out since April. There was a sense everyone was waiting for him and it was not until he was back they could begin.<\/p>\n
All four of the wingers have had problems<\/a> and that cuts to the heart of Spain\u2019s identity, the twist on tiki taka Luis de la Fuente brought<\/a>. So, too, does the midfield. And that is where Fabi\u00e1n comes in. Or, perhaps, where he goes out.<\/p>\n He has not started since the opener against Cape Verde<\/a>. Sometimes it has felt a little bit easy to leave Fabi\u00e1n out. \u201cIf his name wasn\u2019t Fabi\u00e1n, everyone would talk about him more,\u201d De la Fuente once said. If he talked about himself a bit more they might too, but that is not really him<\/a>. Softly spoken, he does not always get noticed and has no lobby, although there was a nice gag the other day when he suggested a TV channel subtitle him in response to another channel doing the same to his mum on a recent documentary. Chari Pe\u00f1a has a strong Andaluc\u00edan accent and Fabi\u00e1n is proud of Andaluc\u00eda and more proud of her.<\/p>\n From the small town of Los Palacios y Villafranca \u2013 known for producing bumper cars, wicker chairs and tomatoes \u2013 Chari raised Fabi\u00e1n alone, working as a cleaner at the same training ground where her son made his way through the Betis youth system. Some days she would take him to sessions at 7am, when she had to clock on, leave him asleep in the car and go back to wake him up when it was time to train.<\/p>\n Everything he achieves is for her, he says. It has been a lot. He is a European champion three times over: winner of Euro 24<\/a>, where he was arguably Spain\u2019s outstanding player, and the past two Champions Leagues with Paris Saint-Germain<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz (centre) on the Chattanooga training pitch with his Spain teammates including Lamine Yamal (left). Photograph: Pablo Garcia\/The Guardian<\/p>\n De la Fuente claimed Spain have \u201cthe six best midfielders in the world\u201d, which is just the kind of thing De la Fuente would claim<\/a>. The difficulty, though, is figuring out how to make them all fit or which combination works best. And what condition they are in: like Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal, Mikel Merino and Fabi\u00e1n missed much of the season through injury.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been hard to get my pace and rhythm back, but I am 100% now,\u201d Fabi\u00e1n says. \u201cI think they\u2019re 100%, but I can only speak for myself: I feel in good form. There were long-term injuries and it is true that to start with it is hard to get up to pace and adapt when you come back. I struggled with that, but by the time I got here, I had played various games in a row for PSG at the highest level without having to stop. The injury has been forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n At the World Cup, Pedri and Rodri have started every game. The question appears to be who plays alongside them. In the opening game it was Fabi\u00e1n. In the next it was Dani Olmo. In the third it was Merino. Who it will be next, against Austria on Thursday, is not certain; what it will mean isn\u2019t, either. That is the conundrum the coach has to address.<\/p>\n Fabi\u00e1n\u2019s inclusion meant shifting from the 4-2-3-1 that was De la Fuente\u2019s preference to 4-3-3 or playing Pedri higher, where he had found it harder to run the game. That Fabi\u00e1n slipped from the side seemed to be as much about shape as performance, although he insists: \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s about Pedri\u2019s position [that means] the game is slower.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n Sign up to Football Daily<\/p>\n Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz profile<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cFrom the outside I don\u2019t know how people look at it. On the inside we see it as something that\u2019s totally natural. We know that any of the central midfielders can play. We can play together or separately, it doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s not important who plays, it\u2019s important that we support each other.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it changes anything. The idea we have is the same and we all have the ability to make that idea work. We have different characteristics, but at a collective level the idea is the same.\u201d<\/p>\n Those entrusted with leading, though, are not. At the European Championship, Spain had a kind of triumvirate: \u00c1lvaro Morata led through empathy<\/a>; Dani Carvajal through competitiveness, character<\/a>; Rodri through football<\/a>. Only one remains.<\/p>\n \u201c\u00c1lvaro and Dani were two very important captains for us and had a lot of weight in the team,\u201d Fabi\u00e1n says. \u201cBut there are others who have the experience. The captains. Rodri, the first captain. Unai Sim\u00f3n. Mikel Oyarzabal, who seems shy, but he is someone you listen to, someone who is imposing when he talks because he always has the right opinion. Aymeric Laporte, too.\u201d<\/p>\n What about you? No one else has two successive Champions Leagues, after all. \u201cWell \u2026\u201d Fabi\u00e1n says, which sort of says it all. \u201cI\u2019ve always said I am reserved. I am not someone who much likes to show his face in public, to speak much, but within the group I always give my little bit to help my teammates, especially the younger ones.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever the manager decides, we\u2019re totally ready to help the team on the pitch or off it. The best thing about this team is the family we are. We trust in what we\u2019re doing. We\u2019re 100% now and we hope we can show it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the Embassy Suites on Broad Street, downtown Chattanooga, the vans have pulled out for the last time.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-520418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782311733_174_500.jpg\")
<\/p>\n