“I spoke with Lamine. He is calm and eager to play,” explained Abdul, Lamine Yamal’s uncle, to La Vanguardia hours before the final. He was speaking from Larache, the Moroccan city where he was born and to which he had traveled just 24 hours earlier. Because superstitions, those rituals or habits repeated with the belief that they bring luck, are not the exclusive heritage of Argentina. He also decided to keep his, the one that had brought him luck during the Eurocup. To do so, he closed the family business this week, Bar LY 304. Abdul did not know it yet, but the superstition would work again. It was not the only one.

Alongside Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham is the other big name of an England team that is already among the top four in this World Cup. His brace against Haaland’s Norway sent the three lions to the semifinals, where they will face Leo Messi’s Argentina. With six goals and one assist in six matches, the Real Madrid player’s performance makes him one of the stars of the tournament. He is the highest-scoring midfielder in the entire championship.

The champion earned the right to defend their crown, to put their name in the history books, aiming to become the second team to repeat the title in the Champions – only Zidane’s Madrid has done it. PSG will face Arsenal on May 30 in Budapest in a final where they will carry the burden of being the favorite. And not just for being the champion, no, also because they eliminated Bayern after a colossal tie, culminated this Wednesday at the Allianz with a second-half display that managed the match for the ages. The Parisian team is a capitalized team, a consolidated project in the image and likeness of Luis Enrique, who threatens to reign in Europe in the purest Louis XIV style.