«Sergi, do you want it?». The question had an obvious answer, but in that frenzy of pounding heartbeats, Chus Mateo did not hesitate to say it in the time-out prior to one of the great heroics in the history of the Euroleague.. But before Sergi Llull took, as it could not be otherwise, the responsibility of the final play, it is advisable to rewind. Real Madrid's Eleventh Euroleague was perhaps the most amazing of all. A few weeks before the feat at the Zalgirio Arena, no one would have risked a fortune for a team that had to come back from an impossible tie against Zeljko Obradovic's Partizan and that had just starred in one of the most regrettable and violent tanganes in memory.

Let shame not confuse. “Without the fight, we would have also come back against Partizan,” Vincent Poirier said these days what no one can know. The truth is that the whites traveled to Belgrade with a 0-2 against that had never been raised before and with a string of sanctions from both teams that ended up hurting the inexperienced Serbians even more.. The comeback of comebacks, Partizan up 18 in the WiZink in the fifth against a Madrid that had tied the tie but seemed to die on the shore. And there emerged Sergio Rodríguez, veterans at the vanguard of the brave, as Rudy Fernández had been and as Llull was going to be: “those who transmit how this works.”

Madrid went into the Kaunas basketball game without the injured Gaby Deck and without the suspended Yabusele – the most violent in the fight at the Palace, with his brutal hold on Dante Exum -, with Barça waiting in the semi-finals and with nothing left to lose. He surpassed those of Jasikevicius and Mirotic and against Olympiacos he had even more epic to add, since no winner of a classic in the Final Four had subsequently won the European title. But, after all, there were 12 seconds left, a couple of minutes ago they had fallen by six, and Bartzokas' team was determined to tremble and give opportunities to Chus Mateo's insatiable wild group.

“The basket of my life”

12 seconds and in the time-out huddle, Mateo was trying to paint some order on his blackboard. But Llull, who had accepted the challenge, was no longer listening.. Causeur played from the wing and the ball went to the Balearic Islander, who stopped time. He went without thinking too much for the giant Fall (218 centimeters) and executed a parabolic, unforgettable, eternal, very high shot, which entered with 3.2 seconds left to put Madrid ahead and grant them an astonishing title. «It is the basket of my life, of my career. This one passes Málaga on the right (2014 Cup final). That one was closer to the end, but this one is about winning a Euroleague, something incredible,” the hero Llull commented later, in the bowels of the Zalgirio Arena, between hugs and jubilations.

In the year one after Pablo Laso, in the year of the signings of Dzanan Musa and Mario Hezonja, in the year of the cup winner in the Badalona Cup against Unicaja, in the year of the WiZink fight and the defensive zone against Partizan to come back, Chus Mateo raised an unexpected Euroleague, pure vindication of a low-profile coach who endured the downpour of criticism and who had the most moving tribute from one of his pupils, to the point of bringing tears to his eyes. The MVP, without a prior question, began his speech in English with a plea in favor of his coach. And his words were neither brief nor pretentious.. Without a prior question at the press conference, Edy Tavares spoke: «My congratulations to Chus, who has suffered more than everyone so that we could achieve everything we have achieved.. We are here because of him, because he has believed in us and has had a lot of confidence. Many had to apologize, because there has been a lot of criticism. He is the boss, when you talk about Madrid, you have to talk about him. “He deserves it more than anyone because he is one of the best people I have ever met and he has known how to manage everything.”. Giant's word.

The hangover from that Euroleague, from that Jordanian basket by Llull, was hard. Madrid, exhausted of strength and motivation, lost the ACB final against Barça. And yet, the summer and the return of Facundo Campazzo after his failed NBA adventure and the brief intermediate step at Red Star was a shot of energy. An overwhelming start to the season, champion of the Super Cup, undeniable leader in Spain and Europe…. A 2023 that surpassed its record of victories (72 at this point still with matches to be resolved) and that raises the bar for the challenge of 2024: lifting, 56 years later, two consecutive European Cups.

Rafa Nadal is officially back. The Balearic tennis player has completed his first training sessions in advance of the Brisbane tournament, in which he announced that he would return to the courts after his break of almost a year. “I'm happy to be back on the circuit and happy to be in Brisbane after a few years,” Nadal told the tournament's official media.

“Hello Australia. Brisbane”, with this message on social networks and a photo entering the Australian tournament with his coach, Carlos Moyá, Nadal made his return official. Later he could be seen training on the courts of the Queensland Tennis Center, exhibiting great muscles despite the time of inactivity..

The Mallorcan tennis player has carried out two training sessions: one with his team and another with the Dane, Holger Rune, current number four in the ATP ranking.. He has completed both without problems.

It is expected that on Friday, before the draw for the tournament draw in which Nadal will not start as seeded, he is currently 664th in the world, he will participate in an event in which he will answer some questions to the fans who come to Queen Street Mall.

Nadal has not played officially since last January 18, when he was eliminated by the American tennis player, Mackenzie McDonald, in the second round of the Australian Open..

The level that the Spaniard will display is unknown but, as his great rival, Novak Djokovic, says: “He is not the type of player who comes back just for playing, let's say, at an average level.”. “He wants to win titles, be the best, because that is who he is: a tennis legend. I am sure that his preparation has been aimed at winning a Grand Slam,” said the Serbian after the Dubai exhibition in which he was defeated with Carlos Alcaraz..

Spanish slate sets a trend in Europe. The new generation of coaches trained in the League dominates the continent's main championships. Exportation of talent in the management of top-level groups.

The main reference of this fifth is Xabi Alonso, who rules the Bundesliga with an exultant Bayer Leverkusen. They lead the classification with 42 points in 16 games, with 13 wins and three draws. It is the only team in the German championship that has not suffered defeat and leads Bayern by four points, although the Munich team has one game less.

Xabi Alonso's group is also on display in the Europa League: it finished the group stage in first position, with a total of six victories. The Basque coach generates respect and admiration, and there are already many who venture that he will be the natural replacement for Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid. The Tolosarra knows that he occupies center stage, but does not lose perspective: “We are on the right path, but talking now about the fight for the Bundesliga title would not be very intelligent.”

Xabi Alonso is 42 years old and only one younger is Mikel Arteta, who this season is leading the way in the Premier with Arsenal. They faced the start of this Boxing Day as first classified and maintain a tense struggle with Liverpool. In the Champions League, the Gunners finished first in the group and in the round of 16 they will face Porto. Arteta, who is in his fifth season in the Premier, is a coach who demands maximum concentration from his players. “I want players with energy, who know how to live with stress,” said the San Sebastian coach, one of Pep Guardiola's outstanding students (52 years old), already an institution at Manchester City, monarch of the Premier and the Champions League and last winner of the club World Cup.

Andoni Iraola (41 years old) is another Basque member of this new generation. After triumphing at Rayo Vallecano, last summer he was hired by Bournemouth, a modest Premier club, which, led by the Biscayan coach, is in the middle of the Premier table.. Last Tuesday, on Boxing Day, they defeated Fulham (3-0).

In the Premier League, the enormous season of Unai Emery (48 years old) at Aston Villa, which occupies third place and has been able to defeat Manchester City and Arsenal 1-0, is also surprising.. “When they signed me, they asked me to create a competitive team, to fight for the top four in the Premier League and compete for European titles,” declared the Gipuzkoan in a recent interview published in EL MUNDO.. «I like the Premier because of what football in England means. When I was little, they told me that for Athletic fans, going to football was like going to mass.. “I didn't even know who the rival was, but they were going to the Cathedral, the same thing happens here.”

MICHEL SANCHEZ

This season is also being unforgettable for Michel Sánchez (48 years old), the trendy coach in the League with his surprising Girona, who has reached the Christmas break tied on points with Real Madrid at the head of the standings.. They have only lost one game, precisely against Carlo Ancelotti's team, and they are the highest scoring team, with 42 goals, three more than the whites. Michel confesses that he is going through an unrepeatable moment, but he does not go crazy. “This could be a historic season, we are in a cloud, but we have to keep our feet on the ground and continue working on a day-to-day basis,” he recently declared in an interview in As, in which he also confessed his admiration for Pep Guardiola. : “He is very competitive, he is always reinventing himself, looking for solutions to improve, to be perfect and improve.”

In France, Luis Enrique's PSG dominates (53), although it does so with more difficulties than expected. Qatar's powerful squad paid for by public funds has qualified with difficulty for the round of 16 of the Champions League. In France, Carles Martínez Novell (39 years old) directs Toulouse, which is struggling to get out of dangerous positions. Marcelino García Toral left Olympique de Marseille due to the conflicts generated by ultra fans.

In Italy's first category there is no Spanish coach, but David Rodríguez (31 years old) is already beginning to stand out in Milan's second team.

It was all a party. A historic party for Spanish women's football. The completion of the World Cup final focused on the path of all the players through the altar located in the center of Stadium Australia in Sydney when the cameras stopped on Jenni Hermoso, star of the national team, and Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish Federation soccer. They hugged, laughed and the manager, in a gesture that is already an unpleasant part of the history of Spanish women's football, grabbed her head and gave the footballer a kiss on the mouth.

The image, you already know, went around the world, crossed borders and the sporting field itself, served as a political and social reflection and became an emblem of the definitive revolution of the Spanish team, causing a schism in the Soccer City of Las Rozas. , where resignations and controversies occurred during the following days.

The night in Australia was simply surreal. Rubiales, after having celebrated the victory in the box by holding his private parts next to Queen Letizia and going down to the grass to kiss the entire delegation, entered Cadena Cope by phone and called “assholes” and “assholes.” » to those who were criticizing him for the kiss on Hermoso.

Hours later, taking advantage of the stopover in Doha on the trip between Sydney and Madrid and convinced by his work team of the need for an apology, he apologized in his own way.. But not before trying to get Jenni to come out by his side, without success.. “It was a moment of maximum effusiveness, without bad faith,” he admitted, 24 hours after the controversy. From Spain, members of the Government such as Yolanda Díaz were already asking for his resignation, accusing him of having “harassed and attacked a woman.”. Rubiales was on the precipice and had not realized it, because what happened on that plane back to Spain was the beginning of his end.

From the Sydney locker room and given the level of criticism, the Federation sent EFE written statements from Hermoso in which he downplayed the matter and said that it had been “a spontaneous mutual gesture.”. “The president and I have a great relationship,” said the player. That text and the “pressure” to which some members of the Spanish expedition subjected Hermoso, starting with the coach Jorge Vilda himself, to appear in the apology video with Rubiales made headlines in the media.

From there, a guerrilla war that the Government also made its own: “Their apologies are neither sufficient nor adequate.”. “It is an unacceptable gesture,” said Pedro Sánchez, digging the leader's federative grave a little deeper.. Rubiales, however, did not hide and went on the attack. “I'm not going to resign, I'm not going to resign, I'm not going to resign!” he shouted at the Extraordinary Assembly of the Federation, convened with the idea that he would resign, as he and his team took it upon themselves to leak to the press. in the hours prior to its celebration.

Surrealism in the Assembly

This Assembly was the icing on the cake to surrealism. You will remember those applauses from Jorge Vilda and Luis de la Fuente, which ended with the first dismissed and the second in question, and the “social murder” that Rubiales claimed as a victim, insisting that the kiss was “consensual.”. “We hugged, he lifted me up in his arms, brought me close to his body and I told him 'forget about the penalty'. He replied 'you're a crack', and I said 'a little bitch?'. And she said 'okay.' “He said goodbye with a last slap on the side and left laughing,” he said.

This narration of the events, the attacks on Hermoso and the accusations of “false feminism” caused the soccer players to resign from the national team, an action that, like the kiss, went around the world and made Rubiales fall before FIFA.. The highest organization of world football disqualified him and prohibited him from approaching Hermoso. «I felt vulnerable and victim of aggression. “I was simply not respected,” the player repeated again in a statement.

Four months later, Rubiales is disqualified by FIFA for acting “aggressively and totally inappropriately” and has been replaced in office by Pedro Rocha, who we will see if he runs for election next year. In addition, he is also disqualified for three years by the Sports Administrative Court. All while the case is also developing through criminal proceedings, with the National Court Prosecutor's Office accumulating statements from witnesses to determine whether or not to punish the already former president of the Federation.

With only five official matches, the duel between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic has become the most attractive that can be seen right now on the circuit. Proof of this was the exhibition they played this Wednesday at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia, where the Spaniard ended up winning 4-6, 6-4 and 6-4. Alcaraz broke in the ninth game of the third set and made a good conquest to close a match in which both showed why they have been the great protagonists of 2023.

The Murcian, who gave the big blow in the Wimbledon final, beating Nole in five sets and ending his six years undefeated at the All England Club, had just lost in his last two official matches against the world number 1: in the final of the Cincinnati Masters 1000, where he could not take advantage of a match point, and in the semifinals of the ATP Finals, with the Balkan's clearest victory in all his disputes.

Accompanied by his father, Carlos, and his agent, Albert Molina, Alcaraz enjoyed a good shoot for the upcoming season.. This Thursday he will play at the Palacio de los Deportes in Murcia in the Cup that bears his name, against Roberto Bautista. Then he will continue with his preseason to be at the Australian Open on January 14.. Who knows if then we will be able to see him again against Djokovic.

Alexia Putellas is experiencing an ordeal that seems to have no end. After being out for almost ten months due to a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee suffered in July 2022, some bad feelings that started on November 14 have forced him to undergo surgery again.

The intervention, a control arthroscopy that she underwent this Wednesday by Dr. Joan Carles Monllau, the same one who operated on her two years ago, was apparently carried out without major problems at the Barcelona Hospital.. The brief medical report provided by the entity was limited to pointing out that it is low and that its evolution will determine its availability.. Or, put another way: there is no deadline for its reappearance.

Alexia was part of the Spanish team that won the World Cup last August. And, also, she was able to lift the second Champions League of Barça women's football on June 3. His participation in both tournaments, however, was not as intense as he would surely have liked.. After all, the medical discharge for his serious knee injury did not arrive until April 26, 2023, which is already coming to an end..

This course apparently started with the normality that surrounds this type of long-term injuries. With Barça, he combined many minutes, even complete games, with some in which his presence was somewhat less. With the objective, surely, of avoiding overloads. Against Benfica, in the first match of the group stage of the Women's Champions League, however, came what is becoming a long period of separation.

The captain scored two goals, but noticed something strange and preferred not to continue on the field.. Since then, it has been in dry dock. The medical services of Barça and those of the Spanish team, who reviewed her condition after being summoned by Montse Tomé last November, did not detect any serious illness.. But, despite everything, Alexia did not feel at 100% of her abilities..

There was even speculation about the possibility that she had minutes in the last classic played against Real Madrid in Montjuïc, but, in recent times, she has not been able to be on the pitch with the rest of her teammates.. A medical situation that also coincides with the negotiations to extend a commitment with the entity chaired by Joan Laporta, which, at the moment, ends on June 30 of next year.

Until now, the positions of both parties do not completely coincide.. The club, apparently, is reluctant to reach the figure of one million euros that the double winner of the Ballon d'Or would ask for, although it is assured in the Barça environment that the player would even be willing to accept a progressive increase in her income throughout the next campaigns. For the moment, however, everything seems to be stuck until, once and for all, he feels at his best again.