Marc Pubill pushes back after unexpected Spain role at Wembley

Marc Pubill found himself in an unexpected role for Spain against England at Wembley, and then in an unexpected exchange with a reporter once the final whistle had gone. The Atlético Madrid defender was drafted into Luis de la Fuente’s starting eleven after Eric García, the original selection at right-back, felt discomfort during the warm-up and had to be withdrawn.

Pubill stepped in and, according to the primary account of the match, produced a solid display in a position he knows well from his early career. It was in the mixed zone afterwards that things briefly turned tense, when a journalist asked him about an early passage of play in which Gordon got past him on the outside before pulling the ball back.

A right-back turned centre-back questioned on his own turf

The line of questioning touched on a role Pubill has largely left behind at club level. He spent his entire career to date as a right-back before Diego Simeone redeployed him as a centre-back at Atlético, making his return to the flank for Spain something of a throwback assignment against a dangerous England forward line.

That context made the reporter’s question a natural one to ask, but the framing did not sit well with Pubill. Rather than accept the premise that Gordon had beaten him and set up a long night, the Atlético defender pushed back, first asking the journalist to repeat himself and then querying the description of the play before the two went back and forth on what had actually happened during that opening sequence.

Pubill holds his ground

The reporter stuck to his account, restating that Gordon had gone past Pubill on the outside before cutting the ball back into the area. Pubill, for his part, did not concede the point, and when pressed on whether the early moment had made him think the match might turn into a difficult evening, he said plainly that it had not.

It was a brief, low-key confrontation rather than a heated row, but one that stood out in an otherwise routine round of post-match interviews. For a player who has had to prove his adaptability across two positions in the space of a year, at both club and international level, it was also a reminder that scrutiny follows every touch, however isolated.