🇪🇸🗞️ Weekend read: The day Spain (again) showed its sporting pedigree.
🗣️Al Pacino’s inches
⚽️The Class of Euro 2024
🎾Succession success
📋Coaching excellence
💰Public money ROI
Enjoy, share - gracias 🙌🏻🇪🇸
Spain’s Euro 2024 squad announcement, each player represented by a family member our friend, is really lovely.
‘Our grandson Unai Simon’
‘Our dad Jesus Navas’
‘My son Rodri Hernández’
Christ that’s got me 🥺
Liverpool: 61 goals in 26 league games
Ajax: 65 goals in 22 league games
They come to Madrid this week and register a combined ZERO shots on target, both losing.
Football, you lovable bastard.
Rodri has just grabbed the mic off of Morata to belt out ‘Gibraltar is Spanish.’
When he finished, Morata reminds tells him: ‘Hey Buddy you play in England.’
Spanish commentators are pissing themselves 🤣🤣
Celta Vigo captain Iago Aspas dialing in to congratulate Lucas Perez, the captain of Deportivo La Coruña and their biggest rivals live on Galician TV 👏🏻
Don’t think Real Madrid and Ancelotti (and Zidane in the past) get the credit they deserve for being so mentally tough in these type of games, being able to get world class players to put in an absolutely massive shift for the team.
Still refusing to believe a young man called Tomás O’Connor made his Argentina Primera Division debut yesterday.
It’s like Ireland is currently in some cruel purgatory after abusing the ‘granny rule’ in the 80s and 90s.
One last thought on Messi, actually it was
@sidlowe
who said it: When Barca sold Neymar, the best thing to do was do nothing.
Instead they lost plot, and here we are.
Barcelona’s acid test games on the road under Quique Setién:
Valencia - Loss
Athletic Club - Loss
Napoli - Draw
Real Madrid - Loss
Sevilla - Draw
Celta - Draw
Odegaard, Reguilon, Ceballos, Thomas Partey, Lo Celso, Rodri, Ferran Torres - an incredible talent hemorrhage from La Liga to England in less than two years.
Absolutely drained after the Seville Derby. Impossible not to be carried along by the wave of passion, pride, colour and sound.
For me, the best stadium in Spain and THE derby of Spain.
Amazing day. Amazing City
#ElGranDerbi
#Betis
#Sevilla
Just about 5 hours before the Athletic Club team and 160+ other boats make their way up these bursting banks.
Amazing stuff in Bilbao - 40 years is a lot of years.
🇪🇸🗞️ Spanish media will cry outrage at the despicable racism but they don’t care. They are absolutely part of Spain’s race problem - they fuel the tension because it’s good for business.
Here’s a piece I wrote.
#Spain
🇪🇸The first team to win the European Championship four times, winning all 7 games, scoring the most goals, playing by FAR the best football.
🇪🇸Spain 2024 will go down as one of the really great tournament winners.
Sergio Canales straight red for a pull here, deemed the last man back. There’s something badly broken in Spanish refereeing and it’s only serving to fuel the noise, conspiracy theories, and general nastiness hanging over La Liga at the moment.
28% of Atletico Madrid season ticket holders are under the age of 30.
18% of the overall number are female - I suspect this figure is well above the average in many other European leagues.
Spain under De La Fuente (18 months) looks like a team that has 10 times more of an idea of how to attack and defend as a coherent team than France under Deschamps (12 years) and England Southgate (8 years), both with pretty settled teams over the last 4 years.
Mad.
Mateu Lahoz showing zero(!) cards during his last ever La Liga game is the equivalent of a fella deciding not to have a pint on his stag party.
Happy retirement wild horse.
Real Madrid paying for Jude Bellingham by offloading 2 ageing assets who had already given their best days to Manchester United will go down as one of the great transfer heists.
🇪🇸Plaza España, A Coruña - Half 7 on a midweek January evening. Kids playing football, locals walking their dogs, the elderly out for an evening stroll. Spain’s lived-in streets create a self-perpetuating sense of security, leading to feet on the street at all hours.
As he enters his 9th season as manager of Atletico Madrid, Diego Simeone’s worst losing streak in La Liga is TWO games.
Regardless of style or philosophy, that is a phenomenal statistic.
Looking at Ansu Fati at Brighton and Pedri, whose body has already started to break down, I wonder do Barcelona and Spain need to re-think how it manages teenagers.
This lad has just turned 16!!
Real Sociedad will wear this special shirt for the next two games, v Leganés and Real Madrid as a homage to its newly renovated stadium and its stunning city.
The concept of "living for the weekend" doesn't exist in Spain.
Why wait until Friday night to catch up with friends in your barrio over a beer when the local bar is literally around the corner?
13. Tactics: ‘Que te vote Txapote’ wasn’t the solution Spaniards wanted to tackle real, daily life problems such as housing, the cost of living, a healthcare system under pressure.
As a wise man in The Wire once said: ‘If you come at the king you best not miss.’
PP/Vox missed.
Luis Enrique taking the piss by calling up a 17 year old who has never played U21, has played five minutes in Barcelona - he should spend less time being cute, trying to surprise people with his announcements, and focus on building a core team of proven talent for the World Cup.
🇪🇸 Will never cease to be amazed by the ability of Spaniards to have a civilized breakfast at 9am of a Sunday morning on their way home from the night before.
12. Madrid is not Spain: While the conservatives will seemingly always dominate the Madrid and Galicia regions, there is no one ‘Spain’ - as shown last night, it’s a diverse land, and if you’re to govern in 2023 you have to embrace this diversity not try to smash it to pieces.
One silver lining (and a small one at that) for Barca was Joan Laporta today: no BS or conspiracy theories, full acceptance that Barca were unable to meet FFP and La Liga rules with Messi.
An important moment to start restoring Barca’s dignity as an institution.
Over 20,000 in El Molinón this evening for Sporting v Granada, an attendance that will be greater than many Primera teams this weekend.
A great football town is Gijón.
5. A flavour: The PP and Vox recently entered into coalition in towns and city halls across Spain and the impact was instant: LGTB flags taken down, a Buzz Lightyear (!!!) movie censored, the library subscription of children’s magazines in Catalan cancelled.
This scared people.
Heard a stat on El Larguero about Messi contesting 24 ‘duels’ for the ball against Liverpool, winning 15. Only Vidal had won more duels for Barca this season, against Levante, think they said it was 16.
Besides the beautiful side of his game, Messi did a lot of ugly work tonight, throwing himself into 50/50 challenges, selflessly carrying the ball 25-30 yards on his own into traffic, roasting Vidal when he messed up a cross.
Really took his team by the scruff of the neck.
El estadio más antiguo de España, El Molinón. Un gran club con gran tradición y, además, una ciudad maravillosa con buena gente.
#GrandeSporting
#Sporting
#Gijon
🔴⚪️🍀
3. One man led the Left comeback - and he’s not even active in politics anymore: former PM José Luis Zapatero, a magnificent speaker who appeared more like the candidate than Pedro Sanchez.
There’s no doubt he mobilized many voters with some rousing and emotive monologues.
6. Extreme ways: The giant poster erected by Vox in Madrid during the campaign was better propaganda for the Left than they could have ever invented themselves.
It made Vox, and the PP by association (because they could never have governed alone) look archaic and ridiculous.
🗞Latest piece: Spain’s uneasy relationship with race and why its immigrant population is the solution to a greying population and ‘Empty Spain.’
Spoiler: Spain needs immigrants!
8. Feijoo’s final week: This will be cited by political analysts for years.
If there’s one think Spaniards don’t like it’s someone who isn’t willing to ‘dar la cara,’ someone who cowers away. Not turning up to the only public TV debate will be remembered as a historic own goal.
4. Humanizing Sanchez: Criticized for largely communicating only via press conferences during the legislature, Sanchez did a Vuelta a España of the media outlets, even appearing on a preppy Gen Z podcast to talk about important things like Taylor Swift - this was a good move.
Leganes will pay the €15 difference so that their fans can support their team in Vallecas next Monday in their crucial relegation battle.
Leganes charged Rayo fans €20 for their game in October, Rayo are charging Leganes fans €35.
A fantastic gesture from a fantastic club.
🎟TODOS A VALLECAS I El C.D. Leganés se solidariza con su afición, asumiendo 15€ por entrada para igualar el precio de la zona visitante de Vallecas con la de Butarque
#PepinerosAVallecas
➡
Brilliant Luis Enrique feature in El País Semanal: €3m salary, no-interviews clause in contract (not a fan of the Spanish media), moved to Australia after returning from football to surf and learn English, an endurance sports fanatic, never weighed more than 70 kilos.
Here’s Gavi, Jesús Navas, and Fabián Ruiz being honoured in their Andalucían hometown of Los Palacios after Spain’s nations league win.
They were each awarded their weight in local tomatoes.
📸 El País
Tourism in Spain in 2022 breakdown: Spanish v international visitors.
Madrid: 🇪🇸42% v 🌍 58%
BCN: 15.6% v 84.4%
Málaga: 39% v 61%
Valencia: 39% v 61%
Sevilla: 44% v 56%
San Sebastián: 40% v 60%
Bilbao: 51% v 49%
La Coruña: 80.5% v 19.5%
Zaragoza: 70% v 30%
Palma: 11.4% v 88.6%
David Silva rapid-fire questions in a recent interview in Spain:
Tortilla with or without onions: With (of course)
Messi or Ronaldo: Messi
Pick a song: Wonderwall
Pick a club: Man City
Pick a stadium: The Etihad.
Seems like Manchester has left a lasting impression💙
(Marca)
Sanchez would have no problem with a repeat election. Vox are goosed, the PP momentum balloon has been burst, Sumar will consolidate and Pedro now controls the narrative and PSOE has for its feel-good factor back.
An incredible night in Spain.
#23J
Sánchez no tiene los números para sacar adelante una investidura.
PSOE: 122
Sumar: 31
ERC: 7
Bildu: 6
PNV: 5
BNG: 1
Total: 172.
Todo estaría en manos de Junts. La repetición de elecciones es un escenario factible.
#Elecciones2023
11. Media integrity: The journalists outside of the partisan bubbles (on both sides) were crucial to deconstructing many of the mistruths that flowed into the public realm via social media during debates and rallies.
#Fakejoo
was trending throughout the campaign.
.
@NunezFeijoo
: "Nuestro partido nunca ha dejado de revalorizar las pensiones. El único que lo hizo fue el PSOE. Por cierto, Sánchez era diputado"
@SIntxaurrondo
: "No es correcto. No lo hicieron ni en 2012, ni en 2013 ni en 2016"
#LHN
úñezFeijóo
Madrid and Barcelona are reducing their monthly public transport ticket costs by 50% as part of Spain's drive to reduce car dependence.
For an adult to move around Madrid's Zone A (the city) for a month will now cost €27.30 👏
(El País)
🇪🇸⚽️🧵 Football has become an afterthought in Spanish football. For all the daily newspapers and tv and radio shows, there’s so little attention given to the football in the Spanish media.
Instead of tactical analysis we have shouting matches about nonsense.
Midday in Spanish bars and cafés, the magical hour where you’ll see folk enjoying a café con leche, fresh orange juice, a coke, a beer, a glass of wine or a glass of vermouth in harmony, not an eyelid batted, no judgments.
#Spain
A Coruña is now ‘home.’
Sad to leave Pontevedra but with no pre-school places for the little one due to the covid baby boom, we’ve had to move north to one of my favourite cities in Spain. Every cloud…
Very excited - look forward to sharing the journey with you all 🤝
🆕📬 At 02:02 on 2/2/22 we welcomed our daughter into the world. Here’s what Spain has been like for expecting, then new parents. (Spoiler: it’s been great)
Enjoy! RT!
Leganes announcing that tickets for their league opener v Osasuna will be €10 for adults, €5 for kids as the game coincides with the weekend of the city's festivities and they want to create the best possible atmosphere.
Leganes are bloody great.
1. Snap: Reeling after disastrous municipal & regional elections, Sanchez decided it was time to call elections rather than wait for December.
It caught absolutely everyone off guard and forced the entire Left block to get their shit together.
#ShockTreatment
Current face mask situation in Madrid from what I have seen:
> Public transport: everyone wears one
> Supermarkets and stores: everyone wears one
> On a regular street: 75-80% of people wearing one
Adults being adults.
2. Despite a good performance during the face to face debate, largely because he dragged Sanchez into the mud, Feijoo and the PP and Vox based their entire campaign on taking Sanchez down and using empty words like FREEDOM rather than presenting a coherent plan for government.