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.

The investigation of the sexual video of the Real Madrid youth players is expanded to include another victim

The judicial investigation that affects four players from the Real Madrid youth academy for the recording and dissemination of a video of sexual content between a 16-year-old girl and one of them is also extended to another victim.

As revealed by police sources, the proceedings are not only being followed by the minor but there is another person who is also affected by the events – something that was unknown until now – as revealed by judicial sources.. However, they have not specified any details related to this circumstance.

The judge investigating the matter today received the report from the Civil Guard and has initiated preliminary proceedings for the possible commission of two crimes against privacy.

The first tests that will be carried out are the dumping of the contents of the seized mobile phones (there are four terminals in total) and the taking of statements from the two alleged victims.

Afterwards, the magistrate of the Court of Instruction number 3 of San Bartolomé de Tirajana will summon them to testify.

The four youth players were arrested last Thursday at the Valdebebas Sports City as the culmination of an investigation that began two weeks ago.

It was the mother accompanied by her daughter who filed the complaint when the minor found out that there was an intimate video of her with the player circulating in WhatsApp groups.. The sexual relations were consensual but not the subsequent dissemination.

The events occurred in mid-June. The investigating court number 3 of San Bartolomé de Tirajana ordered the Civil Guard to bring the reported players to justice after arresting them.. It is the Judicial Police of the Las Palmas Civil Guard Command that directs the investigations because it is on this island where they happened, specifically in the municipality of Mogán.

A team from the Las Palmas Judicial Police traveled to Madrid to make the arrests.. The cell phones of the detained players were seized and the locker rooms of the locker rooms were also searched before the accused were released, who did not testify before the judge.

The Civil Guard is also investigating whether the video has reached WhatsApp groups of other quarry teams.

Starmer vows to 'rewrite' Brexit deal

The leader of the Labor opposition, Keir Starmer, has promised to “rewrite the Brexit agreement” as he passes through Canada and a day before his meeting in Paris with President Emmanuel Macron. Starmer raised his international profile during the center-left party conference in Montreal, where he was received by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“Everyone recognizes that the agreement reached with the European Union by Boris Johnson is not good and falls too short,” Starmer told the Financial Times while passing through Canada.. “In 2025 we will try to negotiate a much better agreement.”

Keir Starmer's Labor Party currently leads the Conservative Party of “premier” Rishi Sunak by 18 points (44% to 26%) in the average of Politico polls. General elections are scheduled for the end of 2024, and unless Starmer shoots himself in the foot, the vast majority of Britons assume a change in power, after 14 years and five successive Tory prime ministers in the midst of the whirlwind caused by Brexit.

Starmer, once a supporter of permanence, however reiterated that he has no intention of asking for re-entry into the EU and reopening the thunder box.. “The point is not to return. We have to try to make the agreement work. I refuse to accept we can't make it work. And I'm thinking about future generations when I say that.”

“I say this as the father of a 15-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl,” stressed the 61-year-old Labor leader.. “I'm not going to let them grow up in a world where all I can tell them is that they're going to have a worse future than they could have had otherwise.”. “I'm totally determined to make this work.”

Starmer, who has also denied the possibility of a return to the single market or the customs union, specified that his plan is to thoroughly review the agreement after five years from its entry into force in 2020, although he did not specify what points are the What do you plan to touch up?. The Labor leader however expressed his willingness to have “a closer commercial relationship” with the EU.

Last week, during his participation in a Europol meeting in The Hague, Starmer already anticipated his interest in reaching a migration agreement with the EU.. “But we will not become part of the EU quota system, precisely because we are not a member country,” he clarified in response to criticism from the “Tories”, alleging that his plans may involve the entry into the country of more than 100,000 immigrants pending asylum.

Supported by his background as a former attorney general, the Labor leader assured that his plan would include greater collaboration with Brussels on security matters and the possible repatriation to continental soil of a portion of the immigrants who arrive on British shores in boats through the Channel. de la Mancha (more than 45,000 last year).

Immigration will be precisely one of the priority topics in his meeting on Tuesday with Emmanuel Macron, which symbolically occurs one day before the arrival in France on an official visit of King Charles and Queen Camilla (six months after the first attempt, postponed by social unrest against the decision to raise the retirement age).

Starmer will arrive in France with the entire team, including his new Chief of Staff Sue Gray, the same person who was in charge of the internal “Partygate” investigation that led to the fall of Boris Johnson. Alongside the Labor leader will also be David Lammy, “shadow” Foreign Secretary, and Rachel Reeves, the strongest candidate to become Treasury Secretary in a hypothetical Labor Government.

The “premier” Rishi Sunak, for his part, responded to Starmer's promise to “rewrite” the Brexit agreement (something that Sunak himself already did in his own way with the Windsor Framework Agreement signed in February 2023 and which ended the Irish Protocol conflict). “We are not prepared to reopen the fights of the past in any way,” said a Downing Street spokesman.. “We are focused on maximizing the opportunities presented to us (with the current agreement).”

'Janja' and Michelle: first ladies with aspirations to occupy Planalto

There will come a time when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will have to decide: either bet on re-election in 2026 or build a powerful candidate so that the Workers' Party (PT) continues to govern Brazil. The current tenant of the Planalto Palace says that Joe Biden inspired him with his decision to seek four more years in the White House at the age of 81. If a few months ago he ruled out seeking a fourth term, now he leaves the possibility open.

The turning point was the G7 Summit in Hiroshima in June. “I met President Biden and asked him if it was true that he was going to attend” the 2024 elections. He said, 'Yes, I'm going to do it.'. That is an encouragement for me, because I am younger than him,” said Lula, 77, in an interview with the SBT network.

But Brazilian politics also sends signals in other directions, especially after the political disqualification of Jair Bolsonaro, who will not be able to run in the next presidential elections.

Lula could be forced to build a candidate. Or a candidate like Rosángela da Silva, his third wife, a sociologist with a high profile and her own political opinions, affiliated with the PT for decades.. Janja as a candidate from the left would impact the shore of the right, which has its own potential candidate in Michelle Bolsonaro, the wife of the former president.

Bolsonaro himself has spoken about candidate Michelle: “If she wants, she can present herself as a candidate. But what I tell Michelle is that she has no experience. Being mayor of a small town is not easy.. Dealing with 594 parliamentarians is not easy either. I don't think you have the experience for that.. But it is an excellent electoral poster.”

Two weeks ago, Michelle herself, 41 years old, 26 years younger than her husband, went even further: “I was able to see with my own eyes the reality of the people who need it most.. God forged me at that moment to be able to take care of those people. And the desire in my heart to become president.”

If that dream does not come true, there is also that of the vice presidency, accompanying Tarcisio de Freitas, the governor of the powerful state of São Paulo, the industrial and financial heart of the country.

“Do you know that person you love, but you fight? When you come back, it gets much better,” Bolsonaro recently told Folha de São Paulo to explain his relationship with Tarcisio, as everyone knows him in Brazil.

Bolsonaro opposed the tax reform that Lula managed to get approved by Parliament days ago, a reform that Tarcisio supported. This support for Lula earned him the fury of Bolsonaro and boos at a party convention. But the image of the governor of São Paulo is good, it transcends the space of the hard right, and that is an electoral asset. Combined with Michelle, the effect would be very powerful, because the wife of the former president attracts the evangelical vote, very powerful in Brazil.

Religion specialist Paul Freston defined Bolsonaro, who was baptized in the Jordan River in 2016, as “an ideal hybrid candidate, perhaps the first pan-Christian president, who brings together the electoral advantages of evangelical identity but avoids the disadvantages.” “.

Michelle, a fervent and at times harsh evangelist, goes further than her husband, something that was evident in an Instagram post she published after her political disqualification until 2030.

“For he who acts unjustly will receive the due payment for the injustice committed; and in this there is no exception for any person. Colossians 3:25. Only God knows the hearts of men. God has not lost nor will he ever lose control of anything.. My faith remains unwavering in You, Father. I continue trusting, believing now on your side, my love. Brazil above all and God above all! “I am at your service, my CAPTAIN.”

Janja's profile could not be more different, there is no possible point of agreement between her and Michelle. The figure of one feeds back to the other. And although Lula has not referred to her as a potential president, the truth is that the first lady gives the impression, at times, of co-governing Brazil.

Before the inauguration on January 1, the sociologist was part of the hard core of the transition team led by Vice President Geraldo Alckmin. The inauguration ceremony had its mark: it ignored the representative of the Government of Iran, a regime that oppresses women, it vetoed the traditional gun salutes so as not to disturb people with autism and it took advantage of Bolsonaro's flight to the United States to design a unprecedented delivery of the presidential sash by the “Brazilian people.”

More than half a year into Lula's third government, Janja is omnipresent, she has a weight and an aura that Lula's second wife, Marisa Leticia, did not have, whom he widowed in 2017, in one of his worst political moments.

Janja, 56 years old, 21 years younger than her husband, has an opinion on almost everything, and she lets it be known.. The government is aware of this, the first lady is, at times, a powerful minister with transversal powers.. “The influence of the first lady on the president is such that party and opposition politicians refer to her only as President Janja,” noted the Porto Alegre newspaper O Sul.

“Among the countless anecdotes told about her in Brasilia political circles, the most recent is that Janja advised a minister not to take his problems to the president. It is said that he listened in silence to a minister's report to Lula about the government's political articulation crisis in the legislature.. When the meeting ended, the first lady accompanied the minister to the door. The message reached his ear at the farewell: 'Do not bring these types of problems to the president again'. “The story circulates through the halls of Congress.”

According to deputy Evair de Melo, closely linked to the powerful agribusiness lobby, the president is “Janja's hostage” and “only does what she says”. The right-wing newspaper O Estado de São Paulo' stated in January, when the government had just begun, that “Janja has veto power in the government and already interferes in areas such as Defense, Economy and Communication.”

Beyond possible exaggerations, the first lady does not seem to have any interest in hiding her influence. During an event in the State of Ceará, a few weeks ago, Lula surprised by addressing the public: “Janja pointed out to me that only men spoke here. So here's the deal: I'm going to call her to talk.”

And Janja spoke, referring to the president as “hubby” and “my boy” and calling on women in high positions in different ministries to join the event.. This avoided a photo in which only men appeared.

Jaume Collboni closes eight years of Ada Colau's rudeness: Felipe VI receives a mayor of Barcelona after 17 years

The official reception of King Felipe VI to the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, which will take place this Monday at the Albéniz Palace on Montjuïc mountain, puts an end to eight years of disrespect to the Crown by the Consistory led by Ada Colau until the past month of June.

The Monarch will meet at noon with the socialist councilor in what will be the first audience with a mayor of the Catalan capital since 2006, when Juan Carlos I received Jordi Hereu at the La Zarzuela Palace, the last member of the PSC who served as head of the municipal government until Collboni's proclamation three months ago.

The current head of the local corporation will stage, in this way, the return to normality in relations with the Royal House. However, as the first deputy mayor of the city, Collboni already exercised institutional representation during the last term on some occasions when the King visited Barcelona.. As was also usual, during the five and a half years in which the PSC formed a coalition with Barcelona en Comú (BComú), the socialist leader played the role of friendly face of the Colau Executive with the economic powers of the city, mostly uncomfortable with the former spokesperson for the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH).

Aside from those meetings, this will not be the first time that Felipe VI meets with Collboni.. One of the personal objects that attracted the most attention in the setup of his mayor's office was a photograph of an audience with the King in La Zarzuela that was not publicly disclosed.. The image also included a text dedicated by the Head of State himself. Another symbolic gesture by Collboni upon settling in the main office of the City Hall was to place the Spanish flag and that of the European Union next to the two present in the Colau stage: the Barcelona flag and the senyera flag.

After the victory of Xavier Trias (Junts) in the municipal elections of May 28, the possibility of the Mayor of Barcelona falling into the hands of the independence movement became a State issue that transcended local politics.. Curiously, two days after those elections, the King and the post-convergent candidate (former first mayor between 2011 and 2015 with CiU) coincided at the annual meeting of the Círculo de Economía, where they greeted each other and exchanged some phrases, an image that aroused many comments..

Two weeks later, Collboni (second on March 28) became mayor of the city in extremis with the support of the nine councilors of the commons (they announced their yes less than an hour before the start of the investiture plenary session) and the four from the PP, who had not revealed the meaning of their vote, after several days of speculation about the role of Daniel Sirera's municipal group in preventing Junts from governing the city. A role similar to that played by Manuel Valls, four years earlier, voting for Colau to block the way for the 2019 electoral winner, Ernest Maragall (ERC).

Colau's gestures

Colau's traditional poses at the official receptions to the King in Barcelona were not a decision she made at the beginning of her time as mayor, but rather from October 2017, with Felipe VI's speech in response to the unilateral referendum of 1-O organized by the Generalitat led by Carles Puigdemont. In fact, the image of the former activist against evictions greeting the Monarch at the Mobile World Congress had previously been used by the independence movement to penalize her by calling into question her republicanism.

However, the gestures of opposition to the Crown did occupy part of the first political initiatives of the commoners in the City Council.. With his first mandate having just begun, Colau ordered in July 2015 the removal of the bust of King Juan Carlos from the plenary hall.. The case ended up in court and a ruling forced the City Council, in March 2018, to place a portrait of Felipe VI “in a preferential and honorable place.”

In July 2021, six years after the withdrawal of the figure of the Emeritus, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the Barcelona municipal government and Colau placed a small image of the King (30 centimeters wide by 40 high) on one side. from the meeting room. The BComú leader complied with the court decision by wearing a mask that day with the red, yellow and purple colors of the republican flag.

Another front on which the Colau team wanted to carry out the cultural battle was the changes in the street map with the elimination of several names related to the Monarchy and the Bourbon dynasty.. Recovering old names, they were replaced in the nomenclature, among other spaces, the Juan Carlos I square, the Príncipe de Asturias and Borbón avenues and the Príncipe de Girona Gardens.

And no less notable was, in 2016, the nominal replacement of the City Council's own plenary hall, which only the five Ciudadanos councilors and the three of the PP opposed.. The name of Queen Regent, in honor of María Cristina of Habsburg-Lorraine, great-great-grandmother of Felipe VI, was renamed Carles Pi i Sunyer, mayor of Barcelona, councilor, deputy and minister during the Second Republic.

Seat and Sailing America's Cup

King Felipe VI's agenda this Monday at the Albéniz Palace, his official residence during visits to Barcelona, also includes an audience with the executive committee of Seat and Grant Dalton, general director of Emirates Team New Zealand and CEO of the 37th World Cup. America de sailing, which will be held in the Catalan capital in a year.

Carles Puigdemont replies to Yolanda Díaz that the PSOE and Sumar cannot impose on Junts the conditions for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez

The PSOE and Sumar focus their efforts on the negotiations for the investiture in a renunciation of unilaterality by Junts per Catalunya.

In the process of paving the way towards the approval of a future amnesty law, Pedro Sánchez seeks that Carles Puigdemont's party assumes as a preliminary step the need to not repeat the crimes committed during the process.

Precisely along these lines, the second vice president of the acting Government, Yolanda Díaz, expressed herself in an interview published this Sunday in La Vanguardia.. The leader of Sumar points out that “unilateralities do not fit” in an amnesty agreement. “When one party sits down to negotiate, it is already renouncing unilateralism,” he adds.

Hours after the publication of that interview, the former president of the Generalitat and current Junts MEP, who also met with the Minister of Labor and Social Economy two weeks ago in Brussels, recalled that it is not the pro-independence parties who “need support to go to the investiture.

In this sense, Puigdemont has added in a message on Twitter that “the conditions are not set by whoever asks for help, but rather it works the other way around.”. “I think someone is confused,” reproached the post-convergent leader.

Díaz considers that the resolution of the institutional conflict in Catalonia must be based on “a political and social agreement that includes parties, businessmen, unions and civil society.”. And this “broad agreement” would culminate in an organic law for the amnesty.

The leader of Sumar is aware that “there are many people who today have doubts” regarding this measure, but insists that “what must be understood is that the amnesty is not a law, but rather it ends in a law.”

The secret of Jumbo Visma's never-before-seen success: "It's not just money"

Someone wrote that cycling is the only team sport in which glory is always individual.. But its legend is also its colors. The suede and blue jersey of Merckx's Molteni, the yellow of Kas of the tiny Spanish climbers, the revolutionary design of La Vie Claire inspired by the artist Piet Mondrian, the blue and white of Indurain's Banesto…. Not long ago, in black, Sky dominated like no one else. The best team in history was named. Now it is the Jumbo Visma wasps that tyrannize the peloton, those that dispute that honor, the cyclists who conquer unprecedented peaks, the three great ones in the same year, the complete podium of the Vuelta that ended on Sunday in Madrid.

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The Iberian arena. Ayuso, Landa and Mas, the Spanish trio in the Vuelta

Ayuso, Landa and Mas, the Spanish trio in the Vuelta

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Tour of Spain 2023. Sprinter Groves is exhibited at the emotional coronation of Kuss

Sprinter Groves is exhibited at the emotional coronation of Kuss

The Roglic Tour, the Vingegaard Tour and the Sepp Kuss Tour. In five years, the Dutch squad, the heirs of the controversial Rabobank, has taken power. And that was restarted from the deepest hole when in 2013 the bank left the sponsorship of a team tainted by doping and Merijn Zeeman and Richard Plugge renamed it Belkin (White) to break with the past, “from the second budget to the most “low of the pack”. A gradual growth based on a philosophy focused on talent detection, runner development and technology. “It is a team that has been very serious about everything for years and is now getting the results,” reasons Pascual Momparler.. A reinvention until this historic photo of Guadarrama in a Vuelta that they have conquered like no one remembered, playing at will with the final winner and taking the three boxes, something that had only happened in the 1913 Tour with the Peugeot and in the Vuelta 1966, when Kas occupied six of the top seven places.

Kuss, escorted by Vingegaard and Roglic, on Saturday in Guadarrama. OSCAR DEL POZO AFP

Since 2019, seven Grand Tours, including the last two Tours, and six more podiums. Partial victories in all scenarios, 60 so far this year (UAE, second, total 50), with Wout Van Aert as king of the classics. In 2021 there were 45 and 48 last year. satiety. To such an extent that the supermarket chain that gives it its main name has said enough, “we have already won everything there is to win”, and Jumbo will disappear from its jerseys by 2024 at the latest.. Although, as the Spanish coach explains, his is not just a matter of money. «Perhaps they have the largest budget [about 40 million euros which includes the women's structure and the subsidiary, not much more than the UAE or Ineos] but that is not enough to sweep. watch football. PSG had Neymar, Mbappé and Messi and did not win the Champions League. The only one they signed breaking the market was Van Aert, the others are signings that they have made progress. Now it is the fashionable team, the one that everyone wants to go to because they are ahead of the curve.”. «By budget there are other similar teams and money, furthermore, is not everything. They have beaten the UAE in all scenarios, in the Giro, in the Tour and in the Vuelta. There are other factors such as camaraderie, how great leaders are able to sacrifice.. And work in time. It has been a slow process, but it has given them results.. To the point of the historical record of winning the big three in one year. They have also worked very well with the youth team, gradually bringing out top-level cyclists from their development team,” analyzes Eduardo Chozas.

Best cycling teams. Jumbo

But the Jumbo will be remembered. And, like all those who reigned brutally, those who subjugated their equals, he is also surrounded by controversy. For not leaving even the crumbs behind. For making “the show boring for the viewer,” as Chozas admits: “It is too strong a domain. You know he's going to win a Jumbo. Because in cycling the spectacle is created with equality. Although be careful, it is their credit and it is also nice how the work of a great team achieves historic results. The others will have to step up.”

He shares analysis of another myth of the Spanish platoon, a contemporary of Chozas and also a member of one of the most modern and tactical squads ever, the ONCE. For Anselmo Fuerte “they are boring.” «It is not good for cycling. They make the races monotonous. With these short routes, you know that they are going to dominate the stages,” the Madrid native reasons the general feeling.. “I don't know if it's good for cycling that they're destroying. But it has been good that they were fighting for the Vuelta among themselves. “If a week ago they decided that Kuss won it, it would have been the most boring in history,” adds Momparler.

Best cycling teams. Sky

To Jumbo, who has been filling 2023 with everlasting snapshots – from that first stage of the Paris Nice conquered by Laporte in which he entered escorted by Van Aert and Roglic, to the first three places in the Tourmalet and the Angliru in this Vuelta – , the haze of suspicion also surrounds him. «They always get up and with a dominance like that, more. But it is something intrinsic to cycling. Not much has been said about Pogba's positive result,” Fuerte complains.. Neither the Sky – nor of course Armstrong's US Postal – escaped it.. “Everyone wants to know our secret,” said Zeeeman, the sports director since 2013. “But I don't think we have one: it was INSCYD (a performance analysis software) for a while, then ketones, now baking soda. sodium…”, he protested earlier this year in an interview for Eurosport.

“I don't know how long his dominance will last,” thinks Momparler. Because that is the doubt, until when, how it is broken. «They even have the best gregarious people. You have to be very brave and not be afraid of losing your place in the general classification. They create a lot of doubts in their rivals and they take advantage of it,” Chozas surrenders. «Regulating signings, with salaries and budgets. “To try to get the leaders to divide themselves into several teams and not concentrate on two or three as is happening now with Jumbo, UAE, INEOS…”, Fuerte ditches.

Carlos Sainz's arguments to be the true leader of Ferrari: "He had a masterful career"

The mere fact of ending Red Bull's streak once and for all, winner of the first 14 races of the World Championship, was a success in itself for Ferrari, which celebrated Carlos Sainz's victory in Singapore as it deserved.. The chords of Ciao, Ciao, the favorite song of his mechanics, thundered again in the red garage in honor of the Spaniard, author of a fabulous weekend. Dominating since Friday, author of the pole, elected best driver of Sunday in the popular vote, Sainz presented all his arguments in Marina Bay to become the true leader of the team.

After the August holidays, Carlos has made an indisputable step forward over Charles Leclerc, who had to resign himself to a secondary role in the intricate alleys of the city-state. With the same strategy, the Monegasque lost 21 seconds at the finish line compared to the winner. An abyss that shows Sainz's state of grace.

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Singapore GP. Cold-blooded lesson from Sainz for a masterful victory

Cold-blooded lesson from Sainz for a masterful victory

In the last three races, since returning from vacation, he has added 50 points, 26 more than his teammate, whom he already leads in the World Championship with some comfort (142-123). Although beyond the numbers, Sainz can boast of an unbalancing factor: his ability to extract the maximum potential of the car. Just when Max Verstappen has lowered the bar and has put himself within reach, it has been him and not Leclerc, who commands the operations.

“We talked about it in the 'briefing'”

The Monegasque, as soon as the checkered flag fell, sent his congratulations by radio – Great, Carlos! – before launching into the sincere hug. For the first time in two and a half years of feverish internal pulse, Leclerc had dedicated his efforts to the greater good.. “It was something totally normal, which we talked about in the previous briefing. “I knew that my time would come to defend him, both at the beginning and later, when they already warned me that Mercedes was approaching quickly,” acknowledged the former Alfa Romeo driver..

“Since this morning, things had become very clear: the plan was for me not to fight for victory. Furthermore, at the last minute I decided to change and go out with soft ones to control George Russell during the first relay,” he explained.. According to some estimates, his last defense against the British offered nine tenths of oxygen to Sainz. A decisive factor when victory is decided by just 81 hundredths.

Likewise, Leclerc congratulated himself on the “good race management” of his team, so accustomed lately to losing their way at crucial moments.. 14 months after the last victory (Austrian GP 2022), there is no doubt that Ferrari performed up to the occasion in Singapore, handling each situation accordingly.. With the strategy and with the happy degradation of the tires. Although above the rest, of course, Sainz highlighted.

“It's great that he feels so well, because it also helps me understand my driving style a little more. Now it's up to me to catch up,” Leclerc conceded, amazed by the sensational performance of the '55' during the last rounds.. Added to his consistency in Zandvoort and the Monza podium, forged with courage, is this exhibition of mettle and mental control in Marina Bay.

For the first time since his arrival at the Great Circus in 2015, he led a race from start to finish. In fact, only Lewis Hamilton's fastest lap (1:35.867) ruined his Grand Chelem chances, the honor that distinguishes the author of a perfect weekend. After taking the checkered flag, Carlos addressed his first radio message to Frédéric Vasseur, team principal, and Riccardo Adami, track engineer: “Come on, Fred! Come on, Ricky! It's my first smooth operation with Ferrari.”.

Only 67 thousandths

Usually restrained, Sainz was exultant this time on the podium next to Vasseur, determined to empty the bottle of champagne down his back.. With his first victory as general manager, the Frenchman also showed overflowing joy during the party after the traditional photo next to the garage. “It has been a masterful performance by Carlos, always controlling the situation. Especially during the last laps, when he made sure that Lando Norris had DRS to defend himself from Russell,” analyzed the man who took over from Mattia Binotto.

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Fernando Alonso. Latest in Singapore: “The car is undrivable”

Latest in Singapore: “The car is undrivable”

The truth is that Sainz, always astute at reading the races, has been able to better adapt his driving style to the SF-23 compared to a Leclerc with notorious understeer difficulties.. Aboard that sometimes unpredictable car, Carlos has also multiplied his performance by one lap, his main Achilles heel since he landed in Maranello.. Although at the moment, after 15 races, Leclerc still dominates 8-7 on Saturdays, with a very narrow margin of 67 thousandths on average.

Now, with seven races still to go, Sainz must confirm this success to finish the World Cup ahead of Leclerc, a milestone he already achieved in 2021. Likewise, the Scuderia staff will continue to focus on second place in the Constructors' World Championship, where it now has 24 points less than Mercedes.. If Red Bull, penalized in Singapore by the new FIA directive, continues to suffer in Suzuka, Ferrari can still fight for more victories in 2023. And what is even more important: dreaming of a dominant car for the next World Cup.

Fede Valverde, a goal 211 days later and a fracture in his hand: "I did it when grabbing a teammate"

When the ball hit the right post of Remiro's goal, echoing throughout the Bernabéu, and entered the Real Sociedad net, a scream of rage came out of Fede Valverde's mouth.. The Uruguayan had not seen a goal in the Real Madrid shirt since last February 18 against Osasuna, 211 days and 29 games ago.. His fist towards the stands and his giant “Let's go!” They made more sense when he appeared in the mixed zone and explained what his last months had been like.

It has not been a normal 2023 for the midfielder. At the beginning of the year, some problems with his wife's pregnancy made him focus all his efforts and attention on the family.. logical question. That, together with the hangover from the World Cup in Qatar, caused him a slight downturn that was more than resolved at home and on the pitch.. His son was born without problems and he recovered his scoring instinct in the Club World Cup.

In April, in the middle of the fight for the League and the Champions League, he sparked controversy over the punching of Álex Baena in the Bernabéu parking lot, arguing that the Villarreal player had made some comments about his family situation.. The investigating judge of the RFEF requested a five-game sanction, which curiously he would have had to serve in the first five days of this season, but Court 48 of Madrid ended up ordering the dismissal of the case because the perpetration of the crime was not “duly justified.” and the Competition Committee decided to archive the file.

Months later and after a summer in which he tried to disconnect in Montevideo, Valverde returned to the spotlight against Real Sociedad. “You don't want to go through those things.. “These are things in life, and worse things can also happen, but I have to be grateful because overall my family is well, my children are well and they are healthy, which is the important thing,” he expressed to the media.

Analyzing his football “roller coaster” in 2023, the Uruguayan recognized that it is part of the “survival” that must be shown to endure in Madrid. “In my football life there will always be ups and downs, but one works to make them as few as possible.”. “You have to know how to have a mature head in those moments, talk to the people you need and only then can you survive Real Madrid and that pressure that always exists in the best club in the world.”

During the transfer market and with the arrival of Bellingham, several Premier League clubs knocked on the door of the Uruguayan's entourage, who always insisted on his desire to continue in Valdebebas. “I feel one of the best. “I feel like a Madrid player and when that's not the case, the club and I will look for another solution,” he said.

In the locker room, Valverde removed the bulky bandage that covered his right hand and revealed a splint that occupies a large part of the limb.. “I suffered a fracture in training, in a fight. I went to grab another classmate and my hand got caught. “It hurts, but I can play and that's the important thing.”.

First goal of the season for the midfielder, who also found the net with Uruguay during the national team break. Great news for a Madrid that needs options in its attack more than ever. Last year, Valverde bet with Ancelotti that he would go beyond ten goals, but “until he scores a couple I don't want to bet anything,” the footballer joked.