The final moment has arrived, and Spain want our second star.
To win this World Cup, we don’t need to do anything spectacular – we just need to keep calm and carry on playing the same way.
I am back in Madrid now after working on the tournament for the BBC and I would say the whole country believes we can beat Argentina on Sunday and bring home the trophy like we did in 2010.
That confidence comes from lots of places – from winning Euro 2024, from our long unbeaten run of 37 games and of course from the way we beat France in the semi-final.
The strength of this Spain team is in the group, and in their mentality. They are a collective in the way they all play together and they have an identity they believe in, which means they always keep doing the same things.
Our first game of this World Cup was a 0-0 draw with Cape Verde, which was not the result we expected – but they did not panic, and did not change their approach.
It was the same against Portugal and Belgium in the knockout rounds when they had to fight until the last minute to score a winner and, in a different way, it was the same when they went in front early on against France in the semi-final.
France were one of the big favourites to win the whole competition and had scored a lot of goals in their other games but Spain stayed positive, and did not change their approach to try to hang on to their lead.
Having that clear identity and sticking with it is the most important thing, especially now.
Spain can change some personnel within the team but they always keep the same shape and their mindset is always the same too – it is about having the ball, and controlling the game as much as possible.
Of course sometimes a game can bring you different situations but so far Spain have not been behind in any of our seven games at this World Cup, which is remarkable.
If that happens in the final, and we go behind against Argentina, we won’t change. We will keep that same calmness we have seen from the start, until the very end.
Everyone in Spain is feeling confident about the final but of course Argentina will feel exactly the same way. They are the holders and they have also shown enough to be the world champions again.
It is going to be very tough, especially because Lionel Messi is in such amazing form and has shown everyone his ambition and desire.
We know very well in Spain how he can make the difference at any point in the game, as he did against England when he changed his position a little bit and went over to the right to find more space.
But we also know a lot about the rest of the Argentina team – how dangerous they are, and how they will give everything to fight for the trophy so they can take it home.
I played with a few players from their squad when I was with Atletico Madrid from 2023 to 2025 and I know all about their mentality, and their quality too.
One of them was Julian Alvarez, who I would describe as a very complete player because he is not like a pure number nine, or even a 10 who drops deeper.
He can do the work on the wing as well and he wants to be everywhere – sometimes he does drop back but he is also a very clinical striker and wherever he is on the pitch, he is always trying to get into the box and finish things for the team.
Julian can shoot from outside the area too, with his right or left foot and we have seen many amazing goals for him, for club and country.
In the same way, our full-backs Pedro Porro and Marc Cucurella are not just strong defensively, they are also involved in the attacking phase and they have contributed with assists and goals, as well as in the build-up play with the way they move the ball.
In an attacking team such as Spain, the full-backs tend to go really high and be exposed defensively but Porro and Cucurella have shown they can do their jobs well both up and down the pitch, even against really strong wingers.
It is great to see everyone being willing to do the extra work for the team, and really all we want to see now is more of the same.
We knew at the beginning of the tournament that maybe some of our players were not 100% fit, but it is a long World Cup and I think Luis de la fuente had that in mind when it started.
Since then, the confidence has grown and so has the fitness, and the momentum.
Now the players have the chance to make the whole country happy. It won’t be easy against Argentina but they will go into the final maybe feeling the best way they have at this World Cup, and at the best possible time.
Cesar Azpilicueta was speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan
