The sixth steer that closed this week's bullfight in San Isidro hit his horn in the nose of Lalo de María (Beaucaire-France, 2002) when entering to kill. The blood gushed out while the spiky bullfighter with blond hair waited concentrated for the bull to bend. Lalo didn't even look at himself. At the time, no one knew what had happened because everything had been so fast. A blink of an eye. "My whole face hurt, it was like a Mike Tyson punch. He didn't know if the injury had been to his nose, mouth or one eye. I have fractured the nasal septum, the python reached the bone that separates the nose with the brain. He touched it, but he didn't break it. I was very lucky, it was a miracle. If the swelling goes down and it is placed I will not have to go through the operating room. You have to be patient," he told LOC before reappearing this Sunday in Captieux (France).

The last steer of the afternoon hit his horn in the nose of Lalo de María.

It has an atypical history. In contact with bullfighting from the cradle, son of the cattle rancher Christophe Lambert and the rejoneadora María Sara, he decided to be a bullfighter with 16 years. Two years earlier, in Los Angeles, he lost his father, who was 51, to illness. Lambert was an executive director in a film production company and passionate about the world of bullfighting. "The bull has led me to live my father's mourning in a very special way. It has made me forget the tragedy. When I was a child I liked to ride Lorca and Sparrow while my mother rammed me with the cart. One day my father told me that the purity of bullfighting was in bullfighting on foot. When he died, my mother, my older sister and I went to live in Paris. There I began to prepare myself to be a bullfighter. I remember hearing insults when bullfighting in the parks but that's all part of my story," he says reflectively at 20 years of age.

La Maestranza is the square that makes me dream

His mother, Marie Sara (Paris, 1964) came from a family dedicated to the theater and totally alien to the world of bullfighting. At the age of 16 he moved to Nîmes where he created a strong bond with the businessman Simón Casas. He debuted in 1984 as a rejoneadora, took the alternative in Nimes in 1991 confirming three seasons later in Las Ventas. He retired in 2007 to devote himself to bullfighting, politics and his family (he has three children). "My mother has both facets: that of a mother and that of a bullfighter. It helps me a lot even though it's very scary. When a bull catches me or I have a bad afternoon, it's the first one that tells me to get up. My sister, for example, came to see me at Las Ventas but stayed at the bar and the waiter was telling her what was happening in the arena. It's hard for the family."

I remember hearing insults when bullfighting in the parks but that's all part of my story.

He has the support of Simón Casas, businessman of the squares of Nimes and Madrid and representative -currently directs the careers of Alejandro Talavante, Lea Vicens and Juan Leal, among others-. A great friend of his mother, to whom he was romantically linked, he has given Lalo de María the opportunity in his places. "Thanks to your support my name rings out but I am not a spoiled child or a privileged one. The strategy has been to tanning without horses in France and try to make an impact in Spain since I debuted with horses in Olivenza last season. When Simon did not have a hard and dreamed of being a bullfighter by spontaneously pulling himself in Nîmes he met my mother, who had nothing to do with the bull and fell in love with this world. They lived something very beautiful and a bond was generated that reaches our days. My father had been friends with Simon before he met my mother. The three of them created the cattle ranch where I grew up, where each tentadero was a party and where I began to dream of being a bullfighting figure. Simon told me that he was going to take me over but I told him that I wanted to win it, that now I do not need a proxy, what I need is a teacher. Simon is a genius who has achieved great milestones in bullfighting. Hopefully one day I will deserve his empowerment as I told him in that café."

Since 2022, the master José Antonio Campuzano, discoverer of great figures such as Sebastián Castella or Andrés Roca Rey, among others, has been at his side. He lives between Gerena (Seville) and Sainte-Marie-la-Mer (France), a village in the Camargue from where he answers the call of LOC: "I arrived in Seville at the age of 18 without having a fucking idea what this was about. I'm leaving my skin to achieve my goals. In Valencia I failed with the sword, my presentation in Madrid has been a bath of reality to realize that I have to look for the bullfighting that I feel to transmit in such an important place to which I respect so much and to which I want to return. Nîmes has been my great triumph (he left through the Door of the Consuls with three ears only a week ago). The approach has been a gamble. I'm getting ready to give my best in Seville on June 29. La Maestranza is the square that makes me dream."

His greatest reference is Morante de la Puebla: "I look at him because he is the bullfighter who excites me the most, he is the one who makes me feel happiest."

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