All posts by Carmen Gomaro

Carmen Gomaro - leading international news and investigative reporter. Worked at various media outlets in Spain, Argentina and Colombia, including Diario de Cádiz, CNN+, Telemadrid and EFE.
ECONOMY

Why are renewables not enough to save the Canary Islands' electrical system?

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The administrative blockade that, de facto, has paralyzed the installation of new power plants in the Canary Islands has put the islands' electrical system at risk.. The one in La Gomera is just the latest of several blackouts that have also affected El Hierro and Tenerife in recent years.

Did the blockade affect all technologies?

No, only to the installation of non-renewable sources. For renewables, a competition mechanism was established in the 2013 law and they have continued to increase their installed power and, in fact, wind power already accounts for almost 20% of the total, with 652 MW, according to data from Red Eléctrica.

Could it not have been resolved then by installing more renewables?

Its not that easy. In island systems, these sources must be accompanied by backup technologies to provide stability to the system.. Until real, scalable storage solutions arrive, their intermittency would endanger supply at times when the wind is not blowing or the sun is out.

Furthermore, for the system to function correctly, supply and demand must be balanced.. That is to say, it is also necessary to lower electricity production when it is not necessary and the simplest thing in these cases is to simply 'disconnect' the wind turbines or solar panels.. Thermoelectric plants, although they are more polluting, are more constant. On the other hand, except for gas combined cycles, they also have slower start-up times, so it is not possible to turn them off completely if they may be needed again shortly afterwards.

Why are maintenances delayed?

For this same need for support. To carry out maintenance on each group – each of the generators in a power plant, so to speak – it must be turned off.. This makes it unavailable for quite some time, so the operator warned on several occasions that not having these groups could mean a system crash if it became stressed at any time during this process, because there would be no technology to fall back on. that case.

Are island systems very different from peninsular systems?

Although they are similar in operation, their insularity is key, especially in the Canary Islands.. The Balearic Islands have been able to solve part of their problems thanks to an underwater connection with the peninsula, which can act as an additional power station if necessary, but in the Canary archipelago it is not possible to 'pull cable' because there is too much distance and it is technologically impossible.

On the other hand, peninsular Spain has international connections that allow electricity to be imported or exported to provide stability to the system.. Likewise, it still has the constant contribution – more than 90% of the hours of the year – from nuclear power, which generates around 20% of the country's electricity and serves, in a certain way, as a wardrobe.

What is the solution?

In the long term, storage. El Hierro can be the mirror in which the Canary Islands should be looked at. The island is home to Gorona del Viento, a facility that combines a 11.5 MW wind farm, a hydraulic plant of similar power, 11.83 MW, and a 12 MW diesel plant.. In addition, there is a system of turbines that pumps water to the upper hydraulic pond and is fed by the wind from Gorona's wind turbines.. In this way, energy can be stored in potential form, with water. When necessary, it is released and the electricity is generated in this way, but it can also be done by the wind farm or, if necessary, when the water is below and there is no wind, exclusively by the diesel plant.

In addition, electrochemical batteries and green hydrogen could provide similar support and absorb excess generation at times when there is not as much demand.

ECONOMY

The rise in prices reduces visits to the supermarket and products

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The cost of living does not stop growing and Spanish consumers know it, which is why it is increasingly common for them to take out their smartphone calculators to calculate what they can afford to include in their shopping basket.

The price is one of the main issues to take into account in these calculations, and that is that the products consumed in Spain have increased their prices by 16.5% in the first six months of 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year. since the average price of the items purchased was €1.57 and is now €1.83, according to the Association of Manufacturers and Distributors (AECOC).

This upward trend in the prices of individual products is also observed in the overall cost of the purchases that Spaniards made during the first three months of this year, and what they spent in the next three. On average between January and March they spent €32.4 each time they went shopping, while from then until June it was €35. That is, Spaniards are paying 8% more since the year started.

However, if these prices are compared with the same period in 2022, the increase is not as pronounced and is around 3%.

And although so far in 2023 we are paying 2.7% less than what was spent on average the previous year, Spaniards have stopped going to the supermarket with the same frequency.

In fact, in the first half of this year, Spaniards went shopping three times a month, while in the same period of the previous year they did so four times a month.. This means that the frequency of consumer purchases has decreased by 18%. However, if we compare the average frequency during 2022, and so far in 2023, this decrease is also somewhat lighter (15%).

CHANGE OF HABITS

Rising prices are also affecting the number of products with which the shopping cart is filled.. While in the first half of 2022 it took over more than twenty articles (21.8 exactly), in the same period this year it took over 15.5% less. Given this situation, the commercial strategy manager of the distributor association, Rosario Pedrosa, explains that “consumers tend to buy smaller baskets as a strategy to control and try to minimize their spending.”

And between calculation and calculation the changes come. “These negative perspectives affect consumer habits,” Pedrosa indicated in May on the occasion of the publication of the Shopperview barometer that he created in collaboration with 40dB on consumer habits in an inflationary situation such as the one currently occurring.

Even this report shows that almost half of consumers in Spain assumed that their domestic economy had worsened in the last year, which represents an increase of 32% of Spaniards who claimed to be experiencing a reduction in purchasing power last year.

This same study reflected the areas in which consumers were cutting back and although the majority referred to spending reducing expenses on restaurants, leisure and travel, 26% were forced to do so on consumer products, that is, those of primary necessity. What are the foods like?

And just as the items change, the Spaniards also propose changes in the establishments where they buy them, in fact 57% of the population changes their usual shopping places in search of offers that reduce spending.

In addition to the purchase, there are many reasons for these changes, all related to prices, including the increase in the cost of energy or mortgage payments.

HEALTH

Artificial intelligence is learning to find extraterrestrial life

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Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are learning to do many tasks that are complex for people. Rare is the week in which we do not know its application or advances in some new field. Well, this Monday, an American team reveals that an AI system is doing quite well – with 90% reliability – in carrying out a key step in the search for life outside Earth: distinguishing whether the origin of samples is it biological or not (abiotic). Or what is the same, if these samples indicate that there are (or were) living organisms in that place.

Searching for traces of extraterrestrial life, past or present, is the great desire of scientists. This research is carried out within our solar system with robotic missions such as those of the Curiosity or Perseverance vehicles on Mars, and in much more distant worlds (exoplanets or extrasolar planets) through other techniques and telescopes that try to detect those worlds outside. of the Solar System biosignatures or biomarkers, that is, elements that may indicate signs of life, as we know it on Earth.

Among these biosignatures (elements, isotopes, molecules or phenomena that provide evidence that there has been or was life) are molecular oxygen, ozone or methane.. But the existence of one of these elements does not necessarily mean that there is life, that is, that it is a biomarker. For example, on Earth methane is produced by living beings such as bacteria or cows.. This gas has also been detected on Mars, but the origin could be both volcanism and biological processes.

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Space. NASA OSIRIS-REx mission: 250 grams of material from the asteroid Bennu reach Earth
  • Editor: TERESA GUERRERO

NASA OSIRIS-REx mission: 250 grams of material from the asteroid Bennu reach Earth

Leaders. The father of the chips that revolutionized Silicon Valley: “Trying to stop the advance of artificial intelligence is total stupidity”
  • Editor: TERESA GUERRERO
  • Editorial: ANTONIO HEREDIA (PHOTOGRAPHY) Rome

The father of the chips that revolutionized Silicon Valley: “Trying to stop the advance of artificial intelligence is total stupidity”

In the same way, there are organic components that have been produced by biological activity (by living beings) or non-biological, and it is there, in the distinction between the two, where the artificial intelligence system that this Monday presents in the magazine is being trained. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a team led by Jim Cleaves and Robert Hazen, from the Carnegie Institution for Science, in the USA.

As astrobiologist and mineralogy specialist Robert Hazen explains, they started from “the idea that the chemistry of life differs fundamentally from that of the inanimate world, that there are 'chemical rules of life' that influence the diversity and distribution of biomolecules. If we could deduce those rules, we could use them to guide our efforts to model the origins of life or to detect subtle signs of life on other worlds.”.

Their AI system was trained with molecular analysis data from 134 carbon-rich samples, both of biological and non-biological origin.. According to this study, AI was able to distinguish biotic samples from abiotic samples by detecting subtle differences in the molecular patterns obtained after analysis with instruments that separate and identify the components of a sample, and that determine the molecular weights of those components respectively.. Specifically, the AI was successful in correctly identifying the origin of samples of living organisms (such as modern shells, bones, teeth, insects, leaves or hair), remains of ancient life altered by geological processes (coal, carbon-rich fossils, oil or amber) and samples of non-biological origin.

According to Hazen, their analysis method “has the potential to revolutionize the search for extraterrestrial life and deepen our knowledge of the chemistry and origin of the first forms of life on Earth,” as they also want to use it to analyze ancient terrestrial rocks on those for which there is scientific debate. For example, 3.5 billion-year-old sediments found in Western Australia that some researchers say contain the oldest fossils of microbes, while others say they contain no traces of ancient life..

Rocks found in Australia that are 3.5 billion old CARNEGIE INST.

The American astrobiologist believes that this AI system could be incorporated into smart sensors that spacecraft and robotic vehicles would carry to search for signs of life before bringing the samples back to Earth..

Jorge Pla-García, researcher at the Center for Astrobiology (CAB/CSIC-INTA), not linked to the study published in PNAS, considers that it is “a very interesting investigation that could help astrobiologists in the future when it comes to determine if, indeed, any of the samples analyzed outside of Earth are really biomarkers”. This scientist, who is a member of the Spanish team that has supplied NASA with the weather stations carried by its Martian rovers and has signed numerous studies on the presence of methane on Mars, remembers “that only an organic compound that clearly and univocally comes from of biological activity. And this is not so easy to discern. On our own planet it is difficult to find and confirm signs of past life in rocks from the Early Earth (as the first phases of our planet are known). If doing this here at home is really complex, imagine doing it remotely on Mars, a planet far away from us at an average distance of 225 million km.”

To demonstrate that a sample is of biological origin, adds Pla-García, “not only must it be possible to demonstrate that life can create it, but it must also be ruled out that it was created by other processes.”. It is precisely at this point where AI plays a fundamental role according to this team of researchers and why the results seem very promising to me, although we also have to be cautious, since they talk about an accuracy of 90%, a fairly high value but not enough to unequivocally discern whether a compound comes from biological activity or not (in Astrophysics for example, to confirm that a compound is present in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, we need a precision of 99.977%)”, he points out.

“One of the big problems that the astrobiological community faces daily is the in situ analysis of samples, due to the limited performance of the instrumentation on board space missions compared to the very powerful and ambitious laboratories that we have on Earth.. “It is for this reason that to try to identify the origin of the Martian samples identified as being of high astrobiological interest according to the Perseverance rover, we need to bring them to Earth with the future Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission.”

However, as the Spanish scientist recalls, an independent review published last week concludes that this mission could cost more than 10 billion euros and suggests that NASA delay or replan it: “Perhaps, in the future, AI will help us study samples remotely without having to bring them home. This new research opens a new range of possibilities,” says Pla-García, who considers that AI is “a very powerful tool” that is already being used in his own research group to improve weather predictions on Mars, he says.

HEALTH

Six young Portuguese people sue 32 countries before the European Court of Human Rights for climate inaction: "We are fighting for our lives"

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The mobilizations in the streets to demand that the rulers take measures to alleviate the effects of climate change are giving way to actions in the courts to try to force them to take them.. In line with other judicial processes undertaken in the world, six young people from Portugal between the ages of 11 and 23 presented a lawsuit before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2020 against 32 countries in which they allege that they are failing to meet their human rights obligations by not doing enough to protect them from climate change.

This Wednesday the court hearing will finally be held in Strasbourg: “We were afraid, but we do not regret it because we know that we are fighting for our lives,” Cláudia Agostinho (24 years old), one of the six young plaintiffs, told the Efe agency.

Also participating in the lawsuit are Mariana Agostinho (11 years old), André Oliveira (15), Sofia Oliveira (18), Martim Agostinho (20) and Catarina Mota (23).. The six decided to bring the 27 member states of the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Russia and Turkey, to the ECHR, after the devastating fires that Portugal suffered in 2017.. Four of the young people live in the Leiria district, about 140 kilometers from Lisbon, which was one of the areas affected by the wave of fires that left a hundred dead in different parts of Portugal.

The tragedy, they explain, was what prompted them to take those countries to court for not doing enough to protect them from the climate crisis.. In their writing, they allege that the fires that have occurred in Portugal since that fateful 2017 are a direct consequence of climate change that entails risks to their health.. Thus, they claim that they suffer from sleep disturbances, allergies, respiratory problems that have been aggravated by the rise in temperatures as a result of climate change, and anxiety.

If their lawsuit is successful, these 32 countries could be legally obliged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, as detailed by Amnesty International, one of the groups that signed a brief presented to the court, arguing that governments have the obligation to protect human rights internationally through its climate policies.

“As in so many other places, young people are leading the way and showing that there are legal avenues to achieve climate justice. “While this case is very important, it is only one of several underway to ensure the protection of everyone's right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” Mandi Mudarikwa, Amnesty's Director of Strategic Litigation, said in a statement. International.

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Climate crisis. The world's oceans have never been as hot as they are now: “This is by far the worst year”
  • Editor: TERESA GUERRERO Madrid
  • Editor: MAITE VAQUERO (INFOGRAPHIC)

The world's oceans have never been as hot as they are now: “This is by far the worst year”

Climate. Chronicle of an extreme summer in the world: from DANA to infernal fires
  • Editor: CARLOS FRESNEDA London
  • Editor: PABLO PARDO Washington
  • Editor: LUCAS DE LA CAL Shanghai

Chronicle of an extreme summer in the world: from DANA to infernal fires

The court hearing for the Portuguese activists' lawsuit comes after a meteorologically extreme summer that saw intense heat waves, devastating forest fires and destructive torrential rains that climate scientists have linked to climate change..

A week ago, the UN held the Ambition Summit in New York, a preparatory mini-climate summit for the COP28 Climate Summit that will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates from November 30 to December 12, the event in which countries will negotiate their plans to cut CO2 emissions and aid funds for developing countries to adapt and alleviate the effects of climate change. Effects that, according to these young people, are already felt in all parts of the world.

However, Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, one of the sued countries, announced last week that he would reverse some of the measures of the plan promoted by his predecessor, Boris Johnson, to achieve the goal of zero emissions.. In addition, the largest oil field yet to be exploited in the North Sea has just been given the green light..

Mandi Mudarikwa, of Amnesty International, emphasizes that “this generation, as well as their sons and daughters, will suffer the worst consequences of the looming climate catastrophe”, which is why she considers “it is essential that States act now to stop this growing catastrophe and comply with its obligation to keep the increase in global average temperature below 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels”. To do this, he calls for “the progressive abandonment of fossil fuels.”

Violation of rights

In the case initiated by these six young Portuguese women, called Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 31 Other States, the Human Rights Court will examine the claimants' argument that their rights are being violated under the following articles of the European Convention on Human Rights: the right to life (Article 2), the right freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (article 3), the right to private and family life (article 8) and the right not to suffer discrimination on grounds of age (article 14 interpreted in conjunction with article 2 and/or article 8), as detailed by Amnesty International, which believes that the Court's decision could be announced in a few months.

The plaintiffs also support their claim in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in the 2015 Paris Agreement reached during the climate summit in the French capital, in which it was decided that countries would do everything possible to prevent Temperatures at the end of the century will exceed those at the beginning of the industrial era by more than 1.5 degrees.

Binding sentences

The rulings of the European Court of Human Rights are binding on the states involved, so its decision, Amnesty International maintains, could influence other cases before national courts in Europe and reinforce future climate lawsuits filed in national courts.

The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) has launched an international fundraising initiative (crowfunding) to obtain financing for the cause of the six young Portuguese.

There are currently two other climate cases pending before the European Court of Human Rights against Switzerland and France. One of them was presented by the Association of Older Women for Climate Protection (Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz) and four of its members individually against Switzerland, and the other by the French parliamentarian for the Greens Damien Carême, who alleges that the policies Swiss and French climate policies do not protect their human rights.

In Spain, there was expectation this spring over the legal process initiated by the organizations Greenpeace, Ecologistas en Acción, Oxfam Intermón, the NGO Coordinator for Development and Fridays For Future against the Government of our country for climate inaction, specifically, for the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan 2021-2030 (PNIEC), approved in 2021, but the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal at the end of July.

SPAIN

Gamarra accuses Sánchez of "selling" Spain: "If the amnesty is good, why does he remain silent?"

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There is euphoria in the PP. The popular ones believe that the investiture session, although it is sterile and will culminate in a rejection of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has served to consolidate the “alternative” to Pedro Sánchez and to “seed” a “social leadership” with a view to the next general elections. With that optimistic spirit, Cuca Gamarra, parliamentary spokesperson for the Popular Party, has risen to the Congress rostrum.

After these two days of debate, Gamarra said, “the Spaniards will know that there is an alternative to the cowardice of those who do not even dare to debate.”. “Mr. Sánchez has managed to make his silence give him away, because he does not dare to show his face in this Chamber to recognize that what he is willing to do is sell out Spain in order to achieve a single and exclusive personal interest,” he added. the number two of the PP.

Feijóo has emphasized the same idea in his final argument: “He preferred to escape so as not to tell the truth” about the amnesty. For Gamarra, that is the key to the investiture: the deliberate omission of the debate on amnesty for the crimes of the process. “If the amnesty was good, why have you not included it in your electoral program? If it was convenient, why have you not told the Spanish people? Why have you remained silent?”, the spokesperson urged.

For Gamarra, the mere possibility of amnesty would be the first step towards “a constitutional mutation” in which we would go from an autonomous State to a plurinational one.. “And that would mean that you are hijacking the will of the nation, because Spain is an autonomous State, not a federal one,” emphasized the Riojan representative.

“In this Parliament there is no progressive majority, what there is is a secessionist minority” that is dragging, in his opinion, the PSOE to “put the rule of law on the back burner, because that is what they are doing”. “Your partners love you for your weakness, and right now you are even weaker,” Gamarra told Sánchez, who returned to his seat during the popular spokesperson's speech.

SPAIN

The Prosecutor's Office opposes paralyzing the exhumations of the Cuelgamuros Valley

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The Prosecutor's Office has opposed the stoppage of the exhumations of victims of the Civil War and the Dictatorship that are being carried out in the Cuelgamuros Valley and which had been demanded by the Association for the Defense of the Valley of the Fallen.

According to the Public Ministry, the position has been adopted by the Prosecutor's Office of the National Court “in coordination with the Specialized Unit on Human Rights and Democratic Memory” directed by the former minister and former attorney general Dolores Delgado.

Following a lawsuit from the association, on July 12 the prosecutor opposed the precautionary suspension of the exhumations, which was finally denied by the Central Administrative Litigation Court No. 5 of the National Court.

Now the association has appealed the judge's decision, an appeal that the Public Prosecutor's Office has opposed.. Likewise, the Prosecutor's Office has asked the magistrate not to admit the claim made by the association, based on the lack of legitimacy to do so and on the fact that the contested act is not challengeable.

The Public Prosecutor's Office has alleged that the suspension of the exhumation proceedings would in itself generate “evident damage to the victims' right to truth and reparation” and, specifically, “to the fulfillment of the Public Administration's duty to proceed to the location, exhumation and identification of missing persons” established by the Democratic Memory Law, in force since last year.

The action of the Democratic Memory Prosecutor's Office joins other recent actions such as supporting that, despite the amnesty law, the attacks reported by a trade unionist after being arrested in Barcelona in 1970 be investigated by criminal means.. The prosecutor in the case had initially opposed opening the investigation, but Delgado intervened to force a change of opinion.

SPORTS

Ancelotti answers Gil Marín in the middle of the referee controversy: "He made a big mistake"

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Carlo Ancelotti responded at a press conference to the harsh statements of Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, CEO of Atlético de Madrid, in which he assured that Real Madrid “adulterates the competition. “They create an unbearable climate for the referees.”. In words reported by Diario Marca, Gil Marín insists that Madrid's complaints through its official television “directly affect the development of the competition.”

Asked by journalists, the Italian coach declared that the red and white manager “makes a big mistake”. But “no one is perfect,” he added.. The controversy is enormous after the Madrid derby last Sunday. In the Metropolitano press room Ancelotti did not mention arbitration. “I don't pay attention to this. “Everyone does and says what they want,” said the transalpine player after the duel against Las Palmas.

Carletto hopes to have Rüdiger in Girona and confirmed Alaba's problems, who will miss, at least, this Saturday's match due to adductor problems in his right leg.. They were the two highlights of a happy afternoon for the whites, who celebrated the returns of Vinicius and Ceballos. As the coach has announced, the Brazilian will start in Girona. “He entered with great desire and enthusiasm. “Now he has to prepare well and be ready for Saturday, when he will start.”

“I am very happy after a month. It seems like a short time, but they have been hard days, working day, afternoon and night to reach. I must continue to improve and pick up the rhythm of the game,” acknowledged Vinicius, who explained a little about his recovery process: “All the doctors and physios are looking out for us so we can return as soon as possible.. It's a bit sad, it's very hard work, a lot of gym, physio, water work…. Everything to return to our best version and as quickly as possible.”.

Rodrygo's “anxiety”

The star of the day was Brahim, who made his first start and goal after a start to the season in which he counted little for the coach.. In the mixed zone, the Andalusian admitted that he hopes to put some “pressure” on Ancelotti after the goal scored against the Canarian team.

“The coach asks me to be vertical, to create superiority by coming into space and short, he asks me to be the wild card man and go behind the back so that the team opens up more,” the Andalusian admitted to the media, where he acknowledged that in The previous plays had lacked some “calm”. “The calm that I had not had before I had later. I looked, I saw that I was alone and I had the patience to score a goal. “It's a pride, you can't describe the feeling, it's something unique.”

In the press room, Ancelotti seemed somewhat concerned about the lack of success, assuming that his team had exceeded 20 shots on Valles' goal and had only scored two. “The direct pass is sometimes the best option. “I'm not a super fan of possession, I'm a super fan of goals,” he joked..

Insisting on the scoring issue, he focused on Rodrygo, who he acknowledged is having some “anxiety”. “For strikers they are moments that pass, when you don't score anxiety and worry come. I think that's what he's going through.. We have to continue giving him confidence,” he warned, and praised him for the 2-0 pass to Joselu. “He didn't score, but he gave a fantastic assist, for me he contributed enough. Obviously for him the goal is very important, but the goal will come when he doesn't think so much about scoring.”

SPORTS

Girona is now the leader after overcoming a gray Villarreal

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Girona is now the leader alone after overcoming a Villarreal team at the La Cerámica Stadium that has not yet reacted after the arrival of Pacheta. His presence at the top of LaLiga is not the result of chance.. It is a brave and unapologetic proposal from Míchel's team, which seems in a position to take a step forward this season after dreaming of playing in Europe last year.. Players have been added to the base they already had, among whom Savio shines with his own light, one of those players capable of making things happen practically every time the ball reaches them.

Of course, in front of him this time he had a tough nut to crack like Juan Foyth, a full-back capable of unhinging Vinicius and who managed to more or less keep the Brazilian from Girona at bay, whom they were constantly looking for to launch his runs down the left wing to reach the with danger.

Girona was not cowed even by the scare of Morales, who finished high a pass from Baena into the area when the minute of play had not yet passed.. The Catalans were discussing control of the game against a Villarreal team that was warming up little by little.

Pacheta put aside the rotations that he did make in Europe and came out with the closest thing to an ideal eleven that he has at the moment. He made up for the absence of the injured Gerard by placing Álex Baena behind Sorloth, leaving Morales and Yeremy at the extremes.. The Canarian footballer was the most incisive of a Villarreal team whose best options came on the counterattack, taking advantage of the high pressure and advanced defense of Girona and the speed of its three playmakers, without forgetting that of Pedraza back in the team after his suspension.. An attack by the winger ended with the ball hitting the post after deflecting a defender.

Villarreal finished the first half well, with a double chance from Yeremy. The first was saved by Gazzaniga after a deep ball from Mandi for the Canarian and the second, a header from Baena's center that went wide.. The second started even better, with a penalty converted by Parejo after Iván Martín blocked Capoue on the side of the area.

Girona's reaction was immediate, on the field and on the bench. The Catalan team responded with two good chances from Dovbyk, a header deflected by Jorgensen and a volley that missed him by centimeters.. The Ukrainian striker did not miss the third time, as he got around Mandi to finish off a measured cross from Savio at the far post.

Courage and reaction

Girona, who already showed against Mallorca that they do not shrink from being behind on the scoreboard, only needed five minutes to turn the score around against a Villarreal that, incomprehensibly, disappeared when the wind was in their favor. The yellow defense fell asleep on a short corner kick and Aleix had plenty of time to reach the area, where Eric headed in completely alone.. Girona repeated the play in the next corner and this time Aleix's ball ended up hitting the crossbar.

There were hardly any signs of reaction from a lost and nervous Villarreal that could have suffered a heavier defeat. Jorgensen still cannot clear up the doubts generated by his new age and lost a ball outside the area that Stuani was about to score into an empty goal. The Uruguayan also sent a shot to the post in the midst of an offensive by a Girona team that does not conjugate the verb mirror and is already the leader with all merit.

SPORTS

Madrid removes the penalties against Las Palmas on the return of Vinicius

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Madrid needed a victory to overcome the small depression of the derby against Atlético, a psychological blow before facing the first-class port that will be the visits to Girona in the League and Naples in the Champions League.. And at the Bernabéu, with the joy of the returns of Vinicius and Ceballos and the concern over Alaba's injury, he achieved it against Las Palmas. Brahim and Joselu scored in the middle of a period of enough chances for a rout. It was not like that, but the whites maintain the path of the surprising Girona, leader of the League.

Ancelotti gave Brahim the opportunity that the Bernabéu asked for, happy with the Andalusian's minutes during this start of the season. The Italian had insisted that he deserved more playing time and took advantage of the weekday and the theoretical superiority of his team against Las Palmas to rotate Bellingham and give the former Milan player an alternative.. Did not disappoint. Brahim, when Chamartín was already smelling the half-time snack, put a reassuring 1-0 on the scoreboard after 45 minutes of “oops.”

Up to 18 shots, 8 of them on goal, the whites accumulated in the first period of the match. One after another, the shots crashed into the hands of Álvaro Valles, who put together a colossal performance beyond the numbers. Rodrygo and Joselu once again shared the lead and misfortunes, because they were not able to touch the visitors' nets in the initial stretch, to the despair of the stands.. This Madrid has a problem with the goal, but not because it doesn't try, but because of the quality with which it defines the goal. It was noticed more than ever against Las Palmas. In the 5th, Rodrygo, with a volley from the penalty spot, inexplicably hit the center. Only from the pressure and anxiety of not scoring can we understand the Brazilian's mistake, who has accumulated 31 shots without seeing the goal.

Madrid constantly took advantage of Las Palmas' advanced defense, which tried to put pressure on the white midfield by joining its lines, but freed up too much space behind it.. The one who understood it best was Fede Valverde, Madrid's best in the first half. In the 18th minute, a combination between the Uruguayan and Brahim ended at the feet of Joselu, who began his torment against Valles there.. The forward missed again and again, three times with his left foot, against the goalkeeper. And Rodrygo, maintaining his nerves and stress, was not skilled either on the couple of occasions he had.. Not even Nacho could score from inside the small area.

In the 40th minute, with the score at 0-0, the coaching staff regretted the injury to Alaba, who put his hand on his right leg.. It seemed like a muscular issue, something expected after having played 90 minutes of the previous six days.. On the pitch, Valverde continued breaking lines and leading Madrid. The Uruguayan put pressure on several Las Palmas ball exits and took advantage of one to give in to Lucas, who assisted Brahim inside the area so that he, after feinting a couple of times, beat Valles.

After the break, Madrid was less of a steamroller and more controlling. He didn't finish as much and limited himself to saving strength for future matches while the Bernabéu was encouraged by watching Vinicius and Ceballos warm up.. The return of the Brazilian and the Andalusian will give Ancelotti more options and, they hope in Valdebebas, more goals than they have shown at the beginning of the season. When his compatriot was preparing to go in, Rodrygo approached to talk to the coach and in the next play he asked for the ball, faced his marker and placed a perfect cross with his left so that Joselu, there, scored the second goal of the game. late. The Spaniard retaliated by punching the ground in anger while the Bernabéu chanted his goal and his effort.

The ovation for Vinicius ended the match, although there was still half an hour left.. Madrid was satisfied with the result and joined forces with Las Palmas, who beyond a couple of approaches from Viera, did not endanger Kepa's goal. Ceballos gave a different rhythm to a midfield that was too passive and Rodrygo could have scored the goal that would alleviate his pain, but he couldn't.

On the bench, Bellingham and Modric did not even warm up to avoid greater problems, with Alaba's physical problems on their minds and the double visit to Girona and Naples on the horizon. On Saturday, duel for the leadership in Montilivi.

SPORTS

Alcaraz wants to start recapturing number 1 on his first Asian tour

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There is no shortage of attractions on the Asian tour that begins this Friday at the ATP 500 in Beijing Carlos Alcaraz. To begin with, it is his debut in a continent where he has not yet been able to show off his racket due to the pandemic that canceled tournaments in that part of the planet in the last three years.. The truth is that eight members of the top 10 are mentioned in the Chinese capital. “It's like a Masters 1000 or a Grand Slam,” says Daniil Medvedev, second seed, the man against whom the Spaniard played his last match to date, in the semifinals of the United States Open..

“It was like different, like I was missing something. I can finally come. I have always wanted to do it, play in front of the Chinese public and feel what they have told me the players felt, that there is a lot of tennis,” says Alcaraz, who will also compete in the Shanghai Masters 1000, from October 5 to 15..

Absent Novak Djokovic, who will only play the Paris-Bercy Masters 1000, the ATP Finals and the Davis Cup Finals in the last stretch of the season, Alcaraz will try to regain the first place in the ranking that he lost in New York. “We have a nice battle for number 1, especially after Djokovic's great performance in America. “I come here with extra motivation to try to close the gap in the classification. “It's something that I keep in mind every time I train, in every tournament.”.

Other priorities

At 36 years old, this year's winner of the Australian Open, Roland Garros and the US Open has clear priorities, which are none other than continuing to win major titles and widening the gap with Rafael Nadal, whom he now leads by two, 24 percent. 22. In the Race, at this point of the year the most indicative classification, Nole only has 770 points ahead of Alcaraz. Given that the Murcian, in addition to the two tournaments in Asia, Paris-Bercy and the ATP Finals in Turin, will also play the ATP 500 in Basel, from October 21 to 28, his options of closing his second consecutive year at the top They are by no means disposable.

Within a demanding field of 32 players, if he surpasses Yannik Hanfmann, 53rd, from the previous phase, Alcaraz could face Karen Khachanov, who has just won his first title in five years in Zhuhai, and always on the field of the hypothesis, then face Casper Ruud, Jannik Sinner or Holger Rune, before a final against Medvedev.

Champion at Wimbledon, Indian Wells, Madrid, Barcelona, Queen's and Buenos Aires, and finalist in Rio and Cincinnati, Alcaraz appears in Beijing with a total of 58 wins and seven losses this season. A year ago, he suffered a certain implosion at this point in the course. After winning his first major in New York and becoming the youngest number 1 in history, he beat the Korean Soonwoo Kwon in the Davis Cup, but lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime, to whom he would also lose in the Basel semifinals, after fall against David Goffin early in Astana. The abdominal injury suffered against Rune in the Paris-Bercy quarterfinals would end the course. In 2023 he has dispensed with the Davis Cup to better recover from the American tour.