Good morning, friends. When dawn breaks, a few minutes before seven in the morning in Madrid, and the Italian coffee maker starts bubbling to indicate that it has done its job, we grab the newspaper Marca and almost faint.
A tiny lady, turned upside down in an exorcist angle, rushes towards an alarmed Rudy Fernández, who screams and gestures to get attention. The girl has already turned her back on the letters of the Marquista newspaper and is now leaning – downwards – towards the basketball legend.
We panicked, we didn’t know whether to call Juancho Gallardo to warn Rudy of what was coming or to call 911. At that moment, the coffee spilled out and stained the stove burners ochre. Smoke came out and it smelled terrible. We rushed over, turned off the gas, cleaned up the mess and decided to have a cup of the dark liquid saviour.
Refreshed and fully awake thanks to the caffeine, we take another look at the front page of the Madrid newspaper and discover that it is not a lady balcony jumping over Rudy, but a photo montage with the Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchij as the protagonist after breaking the world record for the discipline with 2.10 metres. The previous record dated back to 1987, the year in which the Quinta del Buitre team from Madrid won its second consecutive league and, more importantly, this humble analyst made his first communion.
Now that we have recovered from the shock and are more clear-headed, we continue to look at this front page. “To Paris” is the headline and refers to a sensational Spain – also in basketball – which, with yesterday’s 86-78 victory over the Bahamas, sealed its passport to the Olympic Games in the French capital. It is not bold to say that Spain is doing well, as far as football and basketball are concerned.
The Unidad Editorial newspaper highlights that Mr. Rodolfo Fernández Farrés will be the only basketball player with six Olympics, and it does not refer to the fact that he has a collection of Tetris, Trivial, Monopoly…, but that he will become the only basketball player to participate in six Olympic events. And, as you all know, these are events that occur every 4 years. If you know how to multiply, it is dizzying. Tremendous merit from Rudy.
Another Real Madrid veteran who has just finished his journey in the whites appears in the top right corner. It is Nacho Fernández, also from the Spanish national team, but in football, who in a patriotic bullfighting pose affirms that Mbappé is a world power. That’s right. The national team is too. Respect, not fear.
In As, Rudy is also the main protagonist, although with more teammates and without any Ukrainian record holder hovering over him.
The Northeast part of the cover, like Marca, is dedicated to the Spanish football scene. The source highlights that this team is not just Nico and Lamine and insists on the strength of the group above its emerging talents. It is true, the main virtue of this team is its collective play. Real Madrid fans have long had this concept very clear, not in vain in the tunnel of the Bernabéu dressing rooms is carved the mythical phrase of Don Alfredo: “No player is as good as all of them together.”
The Catalan press relegates basketball to the background and focuses on the king of sports. Dani Olmo, in a pose worthy of one of Joaquín Reyes’ celebrities, shows ambition: “We want more,” and Mundo Deportivo uses the phrase as a headline. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>
Dani is right in wanting more. In sport you always have to want more, but this time the aspiration is more than justified, Spain is playing and competing really well, and its chances of beating France and reaching the final are not small. The match will be tomorrow in Munich at 9pm and will be officiated by Slovenian Slavko Vincic, who also refereed the recent Spain-Italy game.
Sport is focusing its attention on Araujo, a Barça defender who suffered a muscle tear in the Copa América and will miss the rest of the competition and the pre-season with his team. With this inhuman calendar, the probability of mishaps like these occurring increases considerably.
In both the European Championship and the American competition we are seeing how a large number of quality footballers are far below the expected level. They are criticised perhaps too harshly without taking into account that they are literally exhausted, worn out after a season full of matches. We think of them as robots, but they have physical limits.
Sport has brought this news to the front page because when yesterday’s edition was closed, the Uruguay-Brazil match had not yet been played, which ended with Fede Valverde’s Uruguayans making it to the semi-finals. The elimination of the Canarinha is used by the newspaper that houses Iván San Antonio to spew out a “Vinícius, without the Ballon d’Or?”
The truth is that, unfortunately, we are not surprised, if anyone had the right to behave in an abject manner it was Sport. Vini, let us remember, did not even play in the match against Uruguay. A match in which another match occurred, excuse the redundancy. But not by chance, but on purpose. Araujo charged Endrick and it was Raphinha, a Brazilian from FC Barcelona, who had to come to the defence of the new Real Madrid player.
Tomás Guasch writes about this matter in La Galerna. He also writes about the delirious persecution of Kroos for the unfortunate incident with Pedri. It had to be the Spanish player himself who calmed the unfounded anger of the Spanish anti-Madrid fans by publishing the following words: “Thank you, Toni Kroos, for your message. This is football and these things happen. Your career and your record will remain forever.” The behaviour of Toni and Pedri has been up to the task. The same cannot be said of many commentators and media.
Have a nice day.
2024-07-08 07:23:18
#Spain #football #basketball
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