Carlos Espí is 21 years old and has just signed with Real Madrid until 2031. But this story does not begin in Valdebebas; it begins three months earlier, in a stand at the Ciutat de València.
Espí had just scored the goal that saved Levante from relegation and, instead of running toward his teammates, climbed the stairs until he found María and Conchín, his grandmothers.
He had to insist that they go that day. And when he hugged them, he asked someone to take their picture: him in the middle, with them on either side, and the stadium in the background.
The striker would laughingly say that his grandmothers suffer more over the tackles he receives than over the team’s results, and that María is capable of reminding him about a missed chance even after he has scored.
Now that Real Madrid has paid 25 million euros for his release clause, those two women remain, for him, the only stand that really matters.