Esneijder: Spain will have more possession, but Argentina is very good at playing tough matches.

On the eve of the World Cup final, former Argentine player Esneijder was interviewed by Cadena SER.

How do you foresee this match going? How do you think Scaloni will strategize? We've seen Argentina struggle against Egypt, Switzerland, and Cape Verde, and they even needed a comeback against England yesterday. They've experienced similar situations in several matches. It wasn't until yesterday that we truly saw Argentina explode on the pitch, playing their best period of the World Cup so far. How do you think they will deal with Spain?

It's indeed very difficult to prevent Spain from controlling possession. Spain is almost incapable of relinquishing ball control; they possess the ability to dominate the game for most of the time, which has always been their style of play. As for Argentina, their performance in the last 45 minutes of yesterday's match, or rather, that final period, gave me great hope. Because we finally saw an Argentina that hadn't appeared in this World Cup before—the team we saw in the qualifiers and the last World Cup. Therefore, I'm very much looking forward to it.

I think Spain will dominate the game, or at least have a greater advantage in possession and control of the ball—that's for sure. However, Argentina is very good at playing tough matches; they are indeed adept at fighting until the very end.

I completely agree. Playing better in the final is certainly important, but perhaps equally important is who knows better how to compete in the final.

I think this applies not only to the final, but to the entire World Cup. From the very beginning, I said the key was to advance. You have to keep advancing, round after round, and that's exactly what Argentina did. Spain's path to the final might have been more relaxed; how many goals did they concede? Did they only concede one?

They conceded very few goals.

They dominated the game almost the entire time, so they entered the final in a more relaxed and composed state. Argentina faced many difficulties, but the key was that they successfully navigated each round of the knockout stage. Now, only one match remains. Everything that has happened before is meaningless and completely unimportant. Now it's just one match, and anything can happen. Because there will be 22 players on the field, and if you include all the participating players, there could be 30 or even 40, all of whom are of very high skill level.

If you could choose one player from the Spanish team to represent Argentina in the final, who would you choose? And if you could pick one player from Luis de la Fuente's team, who would you choose?

I might choose Rodri.

Many people might not make this choice… but there are indeed many excellent players. I have a question: is Rodri more recognized outside of Spain than at home? Did you know that Rodri has never played against Argentina? I just looked it up because I've been thinking about this. Rodri made his national team debut in 2018 when Lopetegui was coaching Spain, and they drew 1-1 with Germany in Düsseldorf. Müller scored first, and then it seems that striker Rodrygo equalized for Spain. Rodri came on as a substitute for Thiago in that match, making his debut. At that time, Spain played two consecutive matches. I was just looking for a photo of myself with Rodri in the mixed zone right after his debut. Four days later, Spain beat Argentina 6-1 at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium. I just checked the starting lineup for that match and found that Rodri didn't play. Therefore, he has indeed never played against Argentina.

Another reporter: I was going to ask Pablo Pinto a question, but wait a minute. When Rodri was mentioned earlier, Alicia Brondó said, "Rodri is more recognized outside of Spain than at home." You responded with "Really?" I don't know if you'd like to add anything.

Esneijder: No, I was just thinking about our own team. Our defensive midfielder, the one in the center of midfield, is Paredes. In my opinion, he's been performing exceptionally well since he joined the starting lineup. However, I think Rodri's ability to win back possession is comparable to Paredes', or at least very close, but his playmaking ability is stronger. That is to say, his vision is broader, and his ability to participate in the game and orchestrate attacks is more outstanding. Therefore, I think this position is crucial for Argentina. As for the other positions, our players in many positions are actually quite similar.