After much speculation, it’s been confirmed that Real Madrid midfielder Brahim Diaz has decided to play for Morocco after receiving little interest from the Spanish Federation to play for the national team.
A lot has been made about his absence and the fact that neither the national team manager nor anyone from the federation had ever spoken to him about the possibility of playing for the national team. While Luis de la Fuente is perfectly within his right to pick whoever he wants, his behavior with Brahim has been different to other players.
He publicly stated that he only selects the players and doesn’t speak to them about whether they will be picked or not. Yet it’s also been reported by media outlets close to the federation that he spoke to several players to either inform them of their selection or inquire about whether they would like to play for the national team.
Whether you agree or disagree with Brahim’s absence from the Spanish national team, the issue isn’t the fact that he wasn’t selected, but the double standards there have been with the way the federation treated Brahim compared to other players.
Brahim’s current form and prior experiences weren’t enough to get into the Spanish national team. However, Luis de la Fuente handed Lamine Yamal his national team debut and recently called in 17-year-old Pau Cubarsí after both had only played a handful of games with Barcelona.
In Brahim’s case, the federation didn’t particularly care that they could lose him to Morocco, but they were in constant contact with Yamal (his family is from Morocco) and called him in to ensure they didn’t lose him to the Moroccan national team.
Let’s also not forget the federation was in contact with Dani Olmo when rumors circulated that Croatia was interested in getting him to play for their national team. Interestingly, Olmo made his debut while playing with Dinamo Zagreb.
But above all, it’s strange to see the Spanish Federation completely disregard Brahim when Spanish football doesn’t necessarily have its best generation of players at this particular moment. So you would think someone who is playing very well at Real Madrid and was a starter at AC Milan would at least be a regular on this current Spanish national team.
Is there a Real Madrid – Barcelona rivalry in the Spanish Federation?
Normally, big clubs usually provide a large bulk of the national team players, but the comparison between Real Madrid and Barcelona players that break into the national team is staggering.
Barcelona indeed have more Spanish players in their team than Real Madrid, and it would be expected to see more of their players on the national team. However, what’s alarming isn’t that there are more Barcelona players, but the fact that many of them were called up without establishing themselves at club level (apart from Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí as previously mentioned):
- Pedri was still establishing himself at Barcelona when he made his national team debut.
- Eric Garcia barely played at Manchester City and wasn’t always a starter at Barcelona, but Luis Enrique still brought him in, and he was in the Euro 2021 / 2022 World Cup national team squad.
- Gavi hadn’t even started a game at Barcelona when Luis Enrique gave him the opportunity to play for the national team.
Interestingly, Eric Garcia and Gavi were represented by an agency owned by former teammates of Luis Enrique when both players were called into the national team. Meanwhile, it’s been a completely different scenario for Real Madrid players when they were called into the national team.
- Carvajal, Lucas Vázquez, Isco, Nacho, and Asensio didn’t break into the national team setup until they were established club players.
- Some of Real Madrid’s current and former academy players who are now on the national team didn’t make their debuts until they were with other club teams (Morata, Fran García, Joselu, etc).
- No Real Madrid player was on the Euro 2021 Spanish national team squad, despite Lucas Vázquez, Nacho, and Asensio being available for selection (Isco was out of form, and Carvajal missed the tournament because of injury).
We also shouldn’t forget what happened in 2018 when Julien Lopetegui — who was coaching Spain at the time — was sacked before the start of the World Cup because he agreed to become Real Madrid’s next manager after the tournament.
What about other clubs and players?
It also begs the question: Why is the Spanish Federation only focused on Barcelona’s academy products and not looking at other teams who also have talented young players?
- Valencia is fighting for a top 6 position and doing so with a team entirely of academy players (Pepelu, Javi Guerra, Fran Pérez, Diego López, Hugo Duro, etc). However, apart from José Gayà, Luis de la Fuente has been reluctant to bring any of them into the squad.
- Atletico Madrid has Pablo Barrios and Rodrigo Riquelme, but it was not until recently that Riquelme began to get called up to the national team.
- Girona is having its best-ever league season. Despite this, their players (Miguel Gutiérrez, Aleix García, etc) have rarely been selected.
The mystery continues to surround FC Barcelona and the Spanish Federation
If all these problems weren’t bad enough, let’s also not forget the countless off-field scandals that involve FC Barcelona and the Spanish Federation: Barcelona-Negreira scandal, little transparency from the CTA, secret negotiations between Rubiales and Pique while he was still playing, etc.
While Luis de la Fuente and the federation will have their reasons, all this controversy is not a good image and is only calling into question the national team’s selection process.
At times, it feels as if players aren’t being selected on the basis of form and meritocracy, but because of interests and connections. With all these ongoing issues, it’s no surprise why many Spanish fans are becoming more disconnected from the national team.
Javier Martinez is a seasoned veteran of football coverage and an expert on Spanish football. He has been covering world football for more than seven years with bylines at outlets such as The 18 and The Real Champs.