Deportes

“We are looking for a number nine. Deco has done a fantastic job, I have full confidence in him,” Hansi Flick told TV3 after the Gamper that his team won against Al-Ahly from Egypt (2-1). “We know there are two players, like Robert (Lewandowski) and Ferran (Torres), who have left. We can cover Ferran’s role with the new signings (Adeyemi and Gordon) but replacing Robert is very difficult, because he marked an era with us. We have internal solutions, but we will surely make some move,” Deco replied.

Five months and 10 days later, Carlos Alcaraz announces his return to the tennis courts. He does so in line with the new times, through Instagram in a post shared with Fabrizio Romano and his now famous “Here we go,” accompanied by a very brief video in which he says a single but much-anticipated phrase: “I’m back.”

Anyone who watches the three-part Netflix documentary about Jose Mourinho (already brilliantly summarized by John Carlin last week) might compare the character to a wolf. Sharp claws, supreme intelligence, and a high sensory capacity to know what is happening at every moment and sniff out the path. There is a scene in which the man from Setúbal shows it. He points to his eyes and says they are his best tool, like that Big Brother who sees everything in a football match, inside a locker room or in the club’s offices. It doesn’t matter to him whether he hunts by day or by night. His instinct rules.

Barça played the Joan Gamper trophy (2-1) but Deco’s mind is on the final stretch of the market. Barcelona’s sporting director confirmed that the club has not given up on bringing in a number nine to strengthen the attack, although the club is coming to terms with the fact that signing Julián Álvarez is increasingly complicated. In fact, Deco literally announced that Barça plans to bring in a striker after Lewandowski’s farewell, following the end of his contract at 37 years old. “We will probably make some move,” he revealed on TV3.

If it had to be described simply as a football match, it is obvious that the Gamper is no longer what it used to be. The summer trophy, like so many others, has been swallowed up by an overloaded schedule that barely leaves crumbs from the start. Once an exciting prelude that fans, foreign but especially local, took advantage of to see the new signings live against top-class rivals, today it is an excuse to cash in with tourists as the main targets. The Gamper, that said, still maintains that something of a season opener where hopes are still intact, this year more than ever after Hansi Flick’s two consecutive Leagues and the recent and stunning signing of Rodri.

With 54,224 spectators in the stands of the Spotify Camp Nou, Rodri and Lamine Yamal jerseys, and applause for Hansi Flick, Barcelona presented the squad that, pending the closing of the market, will face the 2026-27 season with the goal of defending the League title and fighting for the coveted Champions League.

El Barça completes the summer market coup by officializing the signing of Rodri. The arrival of the midfielder raises some questions about the need to strengthen a midfield line that already has multiple high-level options. But it also presents strong arguments that have ultimately convinced Hansi Flick. This is his tactical profile.

The Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios has been temporarily suspended after testing positive for cocaine in a doping test last June during a tournament in Mallorca. This was announced this Wednesday by the ITIA, the International Tennis Integrity Agency, and the athlete himself through a long message on his social media.

Rodrigo Hernández, ‘Rodri’, (Madrid, 1996), does not arrive at Barcelona as just another signing. This was staged by president Joan Laporta raising his fist in the air after dining with the player at the Botafumeiro restaurant in Barcelona after signing the contract that ties him to the club until 2031 following a payment of a maximum of 60 million euros fixed to Manchester City, which could reach 75 in variables. In return, Barcelona gets the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner, and, above all, a piece that fits like a glove in Hansi Flick’s Barça machinery. A humble footballer, raised in a family of professionals, university-educated, without social media, and with a surgeon partner, who has maintained a life away from the noise of football. He will wear the number 16 jersey. These are the reasons for his signing.

The day Real Madrid held the official presentation of Jose Mourinho without press or fans and two months after his arrival, the Portuguese coach, who until then had only commented on his time at the white club on his social networks and the club’s television, gave an interview to the Energy program ‘El Chiringuito’, presented by Josep Pedrerol. Florentino Pérez had already been on their set in May, after the absurd press conference to announce that he was calling elections and for which he was heavily criticized.