Fermín López, who played the first 45 minutes yesterday against Betis at the Spotify Camp Nou, will miss this summer’s World Cup with Spain due to a fracture in the fifth metatarsal of his right foot. The midfielder from Huelva was unable to finish the match against the Betis team and had to be substituted at halftime by Alejandro Balde. What was initially interpreted as simple discomfort has ended up resulting in an injury that sidelines the Barça player from the World Cup dream.

There are matches that smell of history, that exude rivalry, that are destined to become myths and that will be forever embedded in individual and collective memory. Today’s England-Argentina semifinal in Atlanta is not just another match. Neither for one side nor the other because it directly appeals to their identity. For both, it is the challenge of the great symbol. For the Albiceleste, facing the English refers to avenging national and nationalist wounds, and that is how they sing it – fans and players, by the way. For the Three Lions, the memory of what happened in 1986 at the Azteca is an affront, because of the cheating on the first goal, because of the humiliation of the second.