De la Fuente thrilled with Spain's 'flawless' display in Turkiye thrashing

Luis de la Fuente described Spain's 6-0 thrashing of Turkiye as "flawless" as La Roja maintained their perfect start to their World Cup qualifying campaign. 

De la Fuente watched on as a hat-trick from Mikel Merino as well as a trio of assists by Mikel Oyarzabal handed Spain an emphatic win at Medas Konya Buyuksehir Stadyumu.

Indeed, Merino became only the second midfielder to score a hat-trick for Spain's senior men's team in all competitions in the last 15 years, after Isco did so against Argentina back in March 2018. 

Pedri also chipped in with two goals either side of half-time, with substitute Ferran Torres also getting in on the act as Spain produced their second-biggest away win in their World Cup qualifying history. 

Spain's first two fixtures of their qualifying campaign have brought nine goals, with De la Fuente's side worthy of their win here, having registered an expected goals (xG) of 2.42 from their 21 shots to Turkiye's 0.54 from their nine attempts. 

This ruthless and goal-laden performance pleased De la Fuente immensely, and he was also delighted with the improvement from their previous match against Bulgaria. 

"Today we were flawless, there's not much more to say," De la Fuente said.

"We didn't want to repeat the mistakes we made against Bulgaria on Thursday. Today, we started thinking about how to be even better next month!"

He also praised the overall quality of the squad at his disposal, believing that many are worthy of individual accolades going forward.

While failing to get on the scoresheet, Lamine Yamal chipped in with two assists, while also ending the encounter with a game-high number of chances created (four) and successful dribbles (eight). 

Yamal and Fabian Ruiz are the only Spanish players on the shortlist for the Ballon d'Or, but De la Fuente is adamant Spain are worthy of more.

He said: "We remember Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Xabi Alonso, Raul, players who, in my opinion, should not only have fought for a Ballon d'Or, but should have actually won it.

"That said, whenever there is a Spanish footballer on that shortlist I feel happy, and there are very good players.

"I believe that in many positions we have the best footballers in the world. As for the awards, I don’t know, but I do believe that in many positions we really do have the best."

De la Fuente now has 26 victories from 35 matches during his time in charge of the national side, having taken over in December 2022 following the dismissal of Luis Enrique.