The newspaper Marca opened yesterday the great sporting event of the weekend: the Brand Sport Weekend Marbella. In the style of the musical festivals that tour Spain, the city of Malaga has been filled during this weekend with activities, colloquiums, clinics, presentations, games, celebrities ...

A poster with more than 80 professional athletes, the artists of a festival that began with the visit of the mayor of the city, Ángeles Muñoz , along with the director of Marca , Juan Ignacio Gallardo , to the Sports Museum. The traveling exhibition Legends collects a large number of objects that are part of the world sport history, from the Olympic torch that passed through our country on the way to Mexico for the celebration of the 1968 Games to the Brazilian shirt of 70 signed by Pelé , passing by the ball of the final of Johannesburg - lubricated by Andrés Iniesta - that raised the eternal Spanish football.

The day began with an institutional visit and ended with an opening gala. The Sport Weekend Brand, sponsored by Iberdrola, LaLiga and Quirón Salud, was presented at the Teatro Ciudad de Marbella in an event that was attended by the mayor herself along with the Secretary of State for Sport, María José Rienda ; All were received by Gallardo, who was accompanied by the presidents of the Editorial Unit -group to which the sports newspaper belongs-, Antonio Fernández-Galiano , and of RCS MediaGroup, Urbano Cairo ; the CFO of RCS, Marco Pompignoli ; the general director of the Editorial Unit, Nicola Speroni ; the Corporate General Director, Stefania Bedogni ; the general director of Publications, Aurelio Fernández , and the general director of Advertising, Jesús Zaballa .

The golfer Sergio García , the athlete Ana Peleteiro , the former soccer player Diego Forlán , the five-time world motorcycling champion Mick Doohan , the kitesurfer Gisela Pulido or the great Manolo Santana , who received a well-deserved tribute, did not miss a gala that was presented by the journalist Inma Rodríguez and the illusionist Jorge Luengo , who surprised all attendees with several tricks.

"Huge international relevance"

During his speech, Gallardo explained that "Sport Weekend Brand is a mountain that represents an ambitious project, at the height of our international relevance, which is enormous." The director of the sports newspaper described this milestone as "a unique and singular event, of a major scale, which is being held in Spain for the first time." As a singular touch, Andalusian sport and culture merged through the performance of Viki Gómez , BMX flatland world champion, who joined the stunts on his bike with flamenco in a face-to-face duel with the dancer Lidón Patiño .

The challenge of the Sport Weekend Brand is to bring elite athletes to the street. Not only to listen and see from afar the idols of a large number of sports modalities, but anyone can participate and, in some cases, play directly with some of the professionals who will be in Marbella throughout the weekend. That was the case yesterday of 100 children, who played "the craziest game in history" against Forlán, Vero Boquete and Carlos Cuéllar . In this case, the quantity did prevail over the quality and the youngsters of the Marbella FC quarry won 2-0 before the three professional soccer players were recognized as honorary members of the club.

Another of the great concerts of the first day of the festival was the presentation of the 2020 Olympic Games , which was introduced by the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco , who praised the values ​​of Olympism: «The Games are a party every four years in the that the most excellent of the human race meets to compete ». The canoeist Teresa Portela , jumpers Nelson Évora and Ana Peleteiro and Carlos Coloma ( mountain bike ) participated in the debate.

Karpov games

The wink that united past and present came with the talk about Spain-Malta from 12-1, which brought together two protagonists: one at the microphone, José Ángel de la Casa , and another on the grass, Poli Rincón , who remembered that mythical match. De la Casa narrated again the goal of Mr. and Rincon recalled that the technical talk of the then coach, Miguel Muñoz , «lasted 20 seconds. We knew we were going to have opportunities ».

Doohan landed in Marbella in a week of great news for motorcycling, so the question about the withdrawal of Jorge Lorenzo was almost forced. The Australian recalled the youth with which the Balearic pilot leaves him, although he admitted that he "has done the right thing" because of the pain and injuries. He also described Marc Márquez as "wonderful". In fact, asked about what he considers the four best pilots in history, he didn't doubt it: Rossi , Agostini , Márquez and -orpresa- Doohan himself.

Except for the very early risers, it is more than likely that while you read these lines Marbella is already full of people attending Saturday's activities. Today's headliners will be Sergio García, who will participate in a clinic and receive the Marca Leyenda award and Anatoli Karpov , who will play - or win, in this case the verb is replaceable - simultaneous chess games. Nor will there be a debate about the importance of the European leagues.

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  • Andres Iniesta
  • Jorge Lorenzo
  • Marc Márquez
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