The sirens wailed, the crowd surged and shrieked and clasped its homemade banners, held back by a line of police with guns and earpieces. Finally the presidential-style motorcade slid to a halt, the door whispered open (more swoons and gasps) and to a background of Beatlemania-style excitement a slightly scruffy 64-year-old man shuffled down the steps and in through the doors of Alicante’s Hotel Meliá.
Vicente del Bosque has yet to confirm that he will step down as the manager of the European champions next summer. Speaking before Spain’s friendly against England in Alicante on Friday night, an occasion of relatively urgent interest for both teams, Del Bosque would only say again he will at some point make a decision. Two Champions Leagues, a World Cup and a European Championship down the line one thing is certain. He really doesn’t look like he’ll miss the press conferences much.
As the crowd, an odd mix of young women and middle-aged men, continued to yell the players’ names, with Iker Casillas and Gerard Piqué the most urgently beseeched, it was tempting to guess at the last time an England team were greeted with this kind of fervour. Of course, it helps when you win trophies. For Spain the Diana Ross-scale entrance is both a routine welcome these days and a reminder of something England may rediscover for themselves when they face Del Bosque’s team at the José Rico Pérez Stadium.