Like a wild filly / That doesn’t lose its sense in the waves / I don’t want reins or harness / And in tributes I wear a dress. This is how the European champion sounds, the refrain that has spread like oil on Spain’s route to its surprising success in Central Europe. A triumph that only the very religious dared to predict a month ago. And a song that, beyond moving the hips of the Roja, also has to do with the team’s conquest. The song was published in 2021 under the name of Wild filly a Segovian, Isabel Aaiún, who was a horsewoman and falconer. It didn’t find much echo at first, until, thanks to a remix by 2023 and launchers like Radio Verbena FM, the melody began to get louder. The football team has ended up taking it over the edge. Nobody expected this hitnor its protagonist, nor (almost) anyone expected the fourth Euro Cup. Of course, the packed Cibeles party ended at midnight on Monday with Wild fillywith Aitana as opening act.
Ibai Llanos appeared on stage, but the head of the microphone was Álvaro Morata, who after remembering the pioneers (Casillas, Xavi, Pujol…) introduced his teammates one by one: “Carvajal, the wild boar of Spain, where is Musiala?”; “Fabián is a beacon in training, he doesn’t move”; “Mikel Merino, the spirit of Puyol”; “Rodrigo, we’ve had a couple of fights, but he’s a Ballon d’Or” (while Joselu pointed to Carvajal, his brother-in-law); “Nico, in Bilbao they’ve thrown gasoline at him that doesn’t exist”; “Lamine, he’s gone from messing up in class to messing up at the Euros”; “Oyarzabal, what did I tell you on the day of the final? That your foot smelled of a goal”; “Navas: he’s a legend, he should be put in the Federation or the Government”… And so on, one by one. Luis de la Fuente was tossed around before leaving a message (“this team is an example, together we are stronger”) and starting off without a cheat sheet with Julio Iglesias in the company of his friend Patxi Salinas. Meanwhile, Rodri kept shouting “Gibraltar is Spanish”. Morata had to remind him that he played in England.
Since the celebrations of the 2010 World Cup, when more than a million people took to the streets, the national team had not had such a big party with its fans. The players had gotten off a bus that had a message printed on it for the world: “It’s only the beginning” (This is just the beginning.) A warning in English to their rivals, a chest-thumping, not at all casual after a triumph that only the most optimistic had guessed. In the midst of the euphoria, the team wanted to say that this will not be an episodic triumph.
The Iberia Llobregat Airbus A321 Delta, with the expedition on board, had landed at Barajas almost an hour late, at around 3:00 p.m., but a visit to La Zarzuela does not usually allow for gratuitous delays. So at 6:30 p.m., like clockwork, the bus from La Roja crossed the threshold of the royal residence. They were received by kings. redsThe king, with a tie of that colour; the queen, with a red dress; and Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofia, with the Dani Olmo elastic. The aesthetic surprise was provided by Cucurella, who suddenly gathered her teased hair into a discreet samurai ponytail. The promised dye will come, assured his partner, while the player was hanging out with Ibai Llanos.
“We want more”
The next diplomatic stop took them to La Moncloa, where they were greeted by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. “The problem, coach,” he ended by addressing Luis de la Fuente, “is that we want more. We have the 2026 World Cup and then the World Cup in Spain (in 2030),” he reminded him.
Once the strictest institutional toll was over (just before going on stage they were welcomed by the mayor of the capital in the presence of the Infanta Elena), Luis de la Fuente’s kids entered the crowded streets of Madrid on board an open-top bus, with the president of the federation Pedro Rocha embedded in the players’ party, to meet up with the kids who took to the asphalt on a day of buzz, although less than feared.
The dressing room was divided into natural families. The veterans Carvajal, Nacho, Morata and Joselu in the front. The Realistas, on the left side. The youngsters Lamine (without letting go of the microphone) and Nico, on the right wing. The discreet Unai Simón, in the centre, without stopping dancing. Rodrigo raising the trophy as he entered the Plaza de Colón, like the conquistadors. And Luis de la Fuente, with a fanny pack camouflaged among the youth. “This is just the beginning,” they wanted to say.
You can follow EL PAÍS Sports on Facebook and Xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
