Vicente del Bosque insists he is only thinking about Spain’s Euro 2016 clash with Italy on Monday – not what the future holds for him as their Coach.
Del Bosque is widely expected to end his eight-year association with Spain after the tournament, regardless of their performance, but he is refusing to be drawn into the speculation, despite hinting that La Roja may start their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign without him.
“[Italy] are a very strong team and look to dominate the two boxes,” he said at a Press conference.
“We’ll try to do things right. We’ve taken the necessary measures to do so. We’ve had problems with teams who play in similar systems, but hopefully things go well tomorrow.
“Anything goes before the game, but the reality is something else. Except for Germany, who again won again with authority, the other results have been very tight. There’s few differences [between the last 16 teams].
“We have respect for a strong team that are comparable to ours. We have the same probability of progressing as them.
“We’ve had great reliability [in the past], but what we’ve done previously won’t help us tomorrow.
“We need to have all our senses in the game because it’ll be very demanding for both teams. We hope we can stay in the tournament.
“In the [Euro 2012] final, Italy were little impaired physically and not the Italy of today. Now they’re in much better shape.
“Coming into the stadium, my only thought was the Italy game. My head doesn’t go beyond that, although [the speculation] won’t stop.
“The only thing certain is that Spain will start the World Cup qualifiers with or without me.
“There are no big differences between the two teams. They have a very special way of playing and we must be attentive of that.
“[On Alvaro Morata], he’s been in a very good stage of development. Now he must reach the level of consistency that the great players have.
“A lot of [Italy’s] play comes through the wings, and they have depth. For this, they have important players in midfield, but we’ll be aware of how they organise their play.”
