While Spain plays for glory at the World Cup, Luis de la Fuente has a very specific literary obsession. The coach does not turn to modern motivational manuals or success psychologists, but instead seeks inspiration in a text written nearly two thousand years ago by a Roman emperor. A stoicism classic that, according to diezminutos.es, he has underlined and annotated in the margins.

Marcus Aurelius: the philosopher De la Fuente brings into the dressing room

The Spanish coach has publicly admitted to being a great admirer of Marcus Aurelius, the second-century Roman emperor considered one of the great names of stoicism. His bedside book is Meditations, a collection of personal thoughts that Marcus Aurelius wrote for himself while ruling Rome amid wars, illness, betrayals and constant political pressure.

It is not a book published with commercial intent, but an intimate diary of reflections born in contexts of maximum responsibility and stress. Precisely the scenario De la Fuente finds himself in now: one step away from winning the World Cup, with an entire country watching every training session and every gesture of the team.

"What is bad for the hive is bad for the bee"

From the pages of Meditations emerges the motto that has deeply resonated with the mentality of the Spanish squad. "What is bad for the hive is bad for the bee" —a simple but extremely powerful maxim for a dressing room— summarises De la Fuente's philosophy: no footballer can understand his success as something separate from the team. If the group breaks, everyone loses. If it functions as a single organism, every player grows within it.

This idea explains why the squad has placed so much emphasis on coexistence, tactical solidarity and the sense that everyone is part of the same journey, even those who don't play every match. This is how one of the greatest dangers warned of by psychologist Patricia Ramírez is avoided: dressing room fracture.

A discreet coach built on patience

De la Fuente is not a coach for the spotlight or viral press conferences. His way of occupying the position is more about the dressing room than about public appearances, more about insisting on an idea until everyone makes it their own. That philosophy comes from his years in La Rioja and his prolonged time in the lower categories, where he built relationships based on trust, work and patience with many of the players who now defend Spain.

He arrived at the senior level with that mentality intact. And now, after beating France on the road to the final —16 years after the glory of 2010— that way of being has the team where it is. Talent is abundant, yes, but it has been the collective idea stamped in fire that has brought Spain this far.

The lessons of an emperor in times of war

Meditations speaks of controlling one's own judgment when you cannot control what happens around you. Of not being swept away by fame or criticism. Of accepting fragility, fulfilling duty and acting with integrity even when the world seems chaotic. Messages that De la Fuente has constantly conveyed to the team: serenity, focus on what is controllable, silence in the face of outside noise generated by controversial decisions (such as the addition of his son Alberto to the coaching staff).

With a worn copy annotated in the margins, the coach has found in a text from nineteen centuries ago the best compass to navigate the pressure of a World Cup final. A lesson that the players repeat every day: that everyone feels important, that the group competes from a place of trust and that no individual glory is worth more than the unity of the hive.