Rodri v Zubimendi - the battle for a Spain spot

There has been no Spain without Rodri or Zubimendi in midfield. Of De la Fuente's 3,300 minutes since taking over in March 2023, only 268 were played without at least one of them on the pitch – 67 against Andorra in June 2024; 21 against Denmark in November 2024; 90 against Switzerland in November 2024; and 90 against Turkey in November 2025. The duo's dominance has been such that, when Rodri suffered a knee ligament injury in September 2024, he dropped a message to Zubimendi.

"I'm leaving you the keys of the team," he wrote to his compatriot at Arsenal. The City maestro now finds himself in a situation where he's not sure whether he will have them back. He's no stranger to that kind of competition, though.

"That sounds familiar. It was not so long ago that it was [Sergio] Busquets and me. It's a joy to have players of such a high level in every position," he said.

In the 2022 World Cup, however, the solution the coach at the time, Luis Enrique, came up with to accommodate both of them was playing Rodri as a centre-back. It's unlikely that De la Fuente will go down the same road this summer. In that case, he will either have to field an unprecedented double pivot – despite his public preference for a 6, an 8 and a 10 in his line of three in midfield – or leave one of them on the bench.