Luis Enrique refused to discuss his Spain future after their shock World Cup exit at the hands of Morocco.
The 2010 winners were huge favourites to advance from Tuesday’s last-16 tie at Al Rayyan’s Education City Stadium and set up a tasty quarter-final showdown with neighbours Portugal, who thrashed Switzerland 6-1 later in the evening despite dropping Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, the two sides remained locked in stalemate after 120 hard-fought minutes and the contest came down to a one-sided penalty shootout, with Spain failing to convert a single spot-kick as Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou denied both Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets after Pablo Sarabia had struck the post having been brought on specifically for penalty duties.
Goalkeeper Unai Simon did manage to save from Badr Benoun, but Abdelhamid Sabiri, Hakim Ziyech and Achraf Hakimi all kept their cool to send Morocco into a first-ever World Cup quarter-final.
It was a sense of deja vu for Spain, who were also dumped out of the round of 16 on penalties by hosts Russia in 2018. They did not even make it out of the group stage in Brazil in 2014, having struggled on football’s grandest stage since finally ending their wait for World Cup glory in South Africa eight years ago, either side of two European Championship triumphs.
Spain reached the semi-finals of the last Euros, having only made the first knockout round in 2016 and finished as runners-up in the 2020/21 Uefa Nations League.
Enrique is in his second stint as national team boss after returning in November 2019 following a break due to personal reasons, with his contract set to expire this month.
The former Barcelona boss previously said he would not sign an extension unless Spain did well in Qatar, though the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) are believed to want him to stay long-term and recently revealed that he had rejected offers from Premier League clubs to return to his previous role.
Enrique’s contract situation coupled with Spain’s sorry World Cup exit will now bring his future under serious question, though he will let the dust settle first before addressing his next move.
"This is not the right time to talk about my future," he said. "My contract is going to end, as you know, but I am very happy with the national team."
