Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Spain defender on swapping Barcelona for Bromley, embracing the contrasting style of the WSL – and her newfound love for beans and crumpets

‘No, I can’t, I’m sorry, it’s a secret!” Mapi León roars with laughter, in response to being asked what persuaded her to join London City Lionesses. Does this bode badly for our interview? Fear not, the Spain centre-back is in as banterous and jovial a mood as you could imagine any new signing to be, as she embarks on her first major interview since signing for the Women’s Super League club.

Across the course of our conversation, in bright sunshine outside a quiet hotel near Maidstone, it is evident that the 31-year-old could scarcely be happier about her decision to swap Barcelona for south-east England. She is sorely missing her cat, Bagheera (“Here, you ask for so many things for pets, you can’t [really] fly with them, it’s so many documents, so many things”) but, that aside, she is buoyant, relaxed and clearly embracing English life. She says she likes the “little bread” in the morning, and we eventually establish she is referring to crumpets, and reveals: “I like the beans in the morning. It’s really interesting. My Spanish teammates like Alexia [Putellas] and Jana [Fernández] are like: ‘What are you doing eating beans in the morning? You need to train.’ I go: ‘No, it’s fine I like it.’”

They rule the roads and, in their wake, even old-style saloons have been supersized. It’s an illusion of consumer choice

Recently, while traipsing from showroom to showroom in search of a used car for my growing clan, the iconic line from Christopher Nolan’s seminal Batman movie The Dark Knight came to mind: “You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” And by villain, of course, I mean an SUV driver.

Because, if you haven’t shopped for a secondhand family car recently, I’ll save you the shock: wherever you look, it’s SUVs.

You can’t help but feel the Argentinian with a penchant for red cards has arrived at his spiritual home with his move to Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid

“He’s not that kind of player” is perhaps the greatest of the co-commentators’ meaningless banalities. Used shortly after a “nice guy” has scythed someone in half about a day after the ball has gone, it is by definition nonsense because if you have scythed someone in half about a day after the ball has gone, then you are indeed that kind of player.

But I don’t recall ever hearing anyone saying “the thing is Clive/Brian, he is that kind of player”. I haven’t analysed every foul in Premier League history to tell if you those kinds of challenges are carried out by players all of us would consider to be “that kind of player” as opposed to the opposite – but the list of players with the most red cards suggests a pattern – Richard Dunne, Duncan Ferguson, Patrick Vieira with eight reds, Lee Cattermole and Roy Keane on seven, Vinnie Jones, Joey Barton and Alan Smith (obviously not that one) among those on six.

Florentino Pérez pressed the Special One button again after two straight trophyless seasons at Real, but Lamine Yamal and co remain title favourites

A lot has changed since José Mourinho was last appointed Real Madrid manager, but a lot has also not changed. Before his first game in charge in 2010, Spain had just become world champions, their extra-time winner in the final scored by a Barcelona player after their opponents, who had been reduced to 10 men, had tried to kick them off the park. Like then, Mourinho’s task is to take down a Barcelona team that have won two La Liga titles in succession. And like then, he has a host of world-class talent at his disposal.

Florentino Pérez is also still around – and he is largely the reason why Mourinho is back. After the chief executive, José Ángel Sánchez, was said to have led the charge to appoint Xabi Alonso last summer, the 79-year-old club president has made the decision his own this time. He promised Mourinho, who won La Liga with 100 points in his first spell, would return if he was re-elected in snap elections in June and the announcement came, in true Pérez style, on the opening day of the World Cup.

Die zin lezen we dus in Het Parool, voorafgaand aan een opsomming wat er allemaal is veranderd sinds de moord op Lisa: "Discussies op sociale media en in traditionele media gingen over femicide, de manosfeer en zelfs de asielopvangcrisis." Zélfs de asielopvangcrisis ja, want als een doorgedraaide asielzoeker vanuit Nigeria via Niger en Algerije en Tunesië en Italië en Frankrijk en Duitsland en Ter Apel naar Amsterdam reist, maar voor instanties alleen duidelijk is dat hij daar 'op een of andere manier' is gekomen, en het COA dus geen flauw idee heeft wie of wat allemaal ons land binnenkomt en wat ze allemaal uitspoken, dan nóg is het voor sommige mensen en media erg  moeilijk dit 'ook' te zien als een asielprobleem. Meerdere verkrachtingen, pogingen daartoe en een moord door een volslagen verdwaasde asielzoeker over wie we géén idee hebben heeft te maken met: femicide en de manosfeer. Het is een mannenprobleem, een fietsrouteprobleem, een stedenbouwkundig probleem, een extreemrechtsprobleem. Het riet is te hoog. De bosjes moeten gesnoeid. De nacht moet worden opgeëist. De gemeente moet geld vrijmaken om geweld tegen vrouwen te bestrijden. Afkoelhuizen voor stalkers. Lespakketten voor basisonderwijs en mbo. Gps-trackers voor slachtoffers van stalking. Het Centrum Seksueel Geweld is vaker open. Hosts bij metrostations. "De politie Amsterdam ontwikkelt lespakketten voor de middelbare school over femicide en de manosfeer. Gemeente Amsterdam gaat met mobiele loketten langs festivals, om met jongens en mannen in gesprek te gaan over grensoverschrijdend gedrag." Jens van Tricht bellen. Symptoombestrijding na symptoonbestrijding, het gaat, maar, door. En ach ja, en er waren ook discussies over de asielopvangcrisis. Zélfs de asielopvangcrisis.

Steun GeenStijl