How to Stop Messi in the Final? Spanish Coach Changes Plan After Harsh Past Lesson

De la Fuente admitted at Friday's press conference that he vividly remembers the challenging task of defending the Argentine captain. When the 65-year-old coach was managing Sevilla's youth team, he assigned a man-marker specifically to Messi during a match against Barcelona.

"I first encountered him when I was coaching the youth team at Sevilla. We were playing Barcelona, and everyone was talking about Messi. I assigned a defender to him, whom I substituted in the 70th minute because he had a yellow card. Messi then immediately scored four goals," AFP quoted de la Fuente.

"Messi is unique. This time, we won't employ man-marking, but we will have to remain vigilant and give him our full attention," added the Spanish coach regarding the Argentine star, for whom Sunday's final will most likely be his last appearance at a World Cup.

The match at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford will also be a personal one for De la Fuente due to his good relationship with Argentina's coach, Lionel Scaloni.

The 'La Furia Roja' coach was an instructor in 2017 when Scaloni was preparing to obtain his professional coaching license.