Luis de la Fuente remained optimistic despite Spain's Nations League final defeat and believes they will "go far in the future".

Spain led twice against Portugal on Sunday, through Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Oyarzabal, but they were pegged back by Nuno Mendes and Cristiano Ronaldo at 2-2 in normal time.

They were then beaten 5-3 on penalties, with Alvaro Morata's spot-kick saved by Diogo Costa, while Portugal remained perfect from 12 yards.

Spain scored 25 goals in 10 matches in the 2024-25 Nations League, the most goals scored by any team in a single edition of the men's tournament.

And De la Fuente believes there were a lot of positives for Spain to take as they start looking forward to next year's World Cup.

"In my opinion, whoever wins is always a fair winner. And, we lost to a great team," De la Fuente said.

"From this very moment, we are already thinking about the next World Cup, which is our goal. With the way we approach things, we are sure to go far in the future.

"Our team is always in a position to win, there is a lot of commitment, a lot of roots. We will always be close to winning."

Lamine Yamal was one of the stars in Spain's 5-4 semi-final win over France, but struggled to make an impact in Sunday’s final.

He had four shots, two of which were on target, but contributed just 0.1 expected goals (xG) to Spain's overall total of 2.1.

Yamal also created just one chance, though he did play the most passes into the final third (22) and put in the most crosses (five).

The youngster was substituted at half-time in extra time, though De la Fuente insisted that it was due to the heavy workload throughout the season, for both club and country.

"It's normal for Lamine to be tired, he's very young and he's had a very hard year," De la Fuente said when asked about the substitution.

"He's had very little rest, he's only 17, and we must dose him when necessary."