Spain head into the first international break of the season as world champions, their attention now fixed on the UEFA Nations League. Confidence is sky-high, the core of the squad drawn heavily from Barcelona, and yet Luis de la Fuente chose this moment to revisit the darkest chapter of his tenure.
Asked to pinpoint the toughest spell since he took charge, he did not reach for a defeat, a crisis of results or a tactical misstep. He went straight to Gavi.
For De la Fuente, the turning point was not a match. It was a scream, a fall, and a knee gone wrong.
“Like losing a dear person”
Speaking to COPE, the Spain coach cut through the usual clichés and went straight to the raw emotion that followed the Barcelona midfielder’s serious injury.
“Gavi’s injury was a tough moment for everyone,” he said. “We had a feeling of pain stemming from an accident, from losing a dear person to us.”
Those are not the words of a coach talking about just another player in a deep talent pool. They are the words of a man who watched the heartbeat of his midfield suddenly disappear.
De la Fuente then pulled back the curtain on the dressing-room scenes that night. The images clearly still live with him.
“If you had seen the reaction from the players in the dressing room, it was horrifying,” he recalled. “Everyone was hugging and supporting him. It was incredibly moving.”
A squad that would go on to conquer the world briefly looked broken. The injury did not just remove a starter; it ripped at the emotional fabric of the group.
Back on his feet, but not yet back on top
Gavi, now 22, has done the hard yards. The rehab is complete. The knee has been tested, retested, and cleared. He is back on the pitch.
His problem now is very different.
At Barcelona, minutes are suddenly scarce. Hansi Flick has a midfield that looks like a luxury showroom, and Gavi is no longer the first name scribbled on the team sheet.
Pedri is entrenched as a guaranteed starter, the metronome around whom the rest of the side turns. The summer arrival of Rodri has added yet another layer of class and control to the middle of the park. The door that once swung open for Gavi now has several bodies wedged in front of it.
The competition does not stop there. Fermin Lopez has surged into form, bringing energy and goals, while Dani Olmo’s versatility and sharpness have made him almost impossible to leave out. The net effect is brutal: Gavi’s involvement has been reduced to short cameos, flashes of his old intensity rather than the full-blooded 90-minute performances that once defined him.
For a player still managing the echoes of his 2023 knee injury, followed by another setback last season, this is more than a selection issue. Rhythm matters. Confidence matters. And right now, both are under strain.
A fight on two fronts
As the season stretches ahead, the challenge is stark. To reclaim his place under Flick, Gavi cannot afford to waste a single second he is given.
Every appearance becomes an audition. Every duel, every press, every late run into the box is a piece of evidence presented to a coach with more options than places. In a congested squad, he must turn scraps of game time into statements.
Camp Nou has seen him at full throttle before. To get back to that level, he needs continuity, not just clearance from the medical staff. Match sharpness does not return in theory; it returns in tackles, in sprints, in games that matter.
De la Fuente will be watching all of this closely. For Spain, Gavi has never been just another midfielder. He has been a central pillar in a side that climbed all the way to the top of the world.
If he can rediscover that edge at club level, his place with La Roja will follow. If he cannot, Spain’s all-conquering machine may have to evolve without one of its most ferocious engines.
For a player who has already lived through one defining setback, the next few months do not just shape his season. They threaten to redefine his role in both Barcelona’s future and Spain’s new era.
