Across Spain, hundreds of thousands of people have been tuning in to watch national team coach Luis Enrique give his daily briefing each night. Though he retired as a player in 2004, he has become one of the stars of the World Cup in his homeland with his Twitch streams direct to supporters.
Luis Enrique has never been someone to give many interviews and his frosty relationship with journalists has often led to negative headlines, but his approach in Qatar has changed the narrative around him. Through these chats, fans have a much clearer sense of who he is and what he is like, earning him the nickname Luis Padrique, or “Daddy Cool.” (More on that later.)
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Every night at 8 p.m. local time — except on match days — he sits in a gaming chair wearing a headset and tackles the questions in the chat. He does not limit himself to football, either: everything from complicated family relations and staying in shape at 52 years old to eggs, nicknames, geography and intercourse during international tournaments has come up. Over 700,000 users subscribe to his Twitch account and 400,000-plus follow his new World Cup Instagram account, where he has burnished his divisive reputation with a string of shirtless selfies.
Each stream has helped draw an image of the World Cup’s coolest coach and as Spain head into Thursday’s game against Japan, where La Roja need just a point to book their place in the last 16, here are the biggest things we’ve learned about Luis Enrique so far.
Talking tactics is fine, but don’t expect a starting XI reveal
Most coaches are reluctant to go into detail when discussing tactics given an unwillingness to reveal too much to potential opponents, even more so in the high-stakes environment of a World Cup. But not Luis Enrique. With an hourlong stream to fill each night, he’s happy to go in-depth on how he wants Spain to play. He has been keen to dispel some misconceptions about the team’s identity, too.
First up: Marco Asensio may have started up front against Costa Rica instead of Alvaro Morata, but that doesn’t mean Spain played with a false nine (an deep-lying forward who moves freely around the attacking third, creating opportunities for teammates.)
“Let’s knock down another myth,” Luis Enrique said ahead of the game. “We don’t play with a false nine. We play with a No. 9. Whether it’s Morata, Asensio or Dani Olmo, they occupy the same space. But their profiles are different. Marco is a guy who can turn, who can go both ways. … Alvaro has other qualities. Call it what you want, but if you watch, our No. 9 usually receives [the ball] between the centre-backs and the holding midfielder.”
Regardless of the opposition, Spain will approach each game with the same proactive mindset, looking to press and dominate possession. “We’ll go out to play the same way [against Germany],” Luis Enrique said.
One thing that will change is the team itself. “I’m not one for repetition,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever repeated a starting XI, and I expect to carry on like that in all seven games [at the World Cup].”
Spain subsequently drew with Germany after opening with a 7-0 win over Costa Rica, but that did not knock his spirit. “In terms of football, I have still not seen a better team than us,” he added on Monday. “There might be teams with more punch, like France and Brazil, but we always go out with the mentality that we are better than the opposition. Our strategy will never change.”
