Inside Spain: Royal romance, fake audio clips and a reprieve for Barcelona

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Inside Spain is a weekly instalment brought to you by Football España, providing an insight into all of the major stories coming out of the rich and intense climes of La Liga and beyond.

It has been a week wavering between comical, crass and downright unprofessional in Spain – so all in all, a fairly standard seven days. As the World focuses on supporting their sides, or adopted teams, in the World Cup, the Spanish media are in trouble after trying to take down their manager on false pretences.

The euphoria surrounding Spain has eased off a little following their 1-1 draw against Germany on Sunday, which was regarded by many as a decent performance, if not somewhat flawed. Confidence is high within the camp itself and there is a growing feeling ahead of their final group game against Japan that La Roja may make a deep run in the competition.

Part of the reason for that is the good atmosphere in the squad currently. Luis Enrique’s Twitch streams have been entertaining the nation as he welcomed on fitness coach Rafa Pol and psychologist Joaquin Valdes this week. However the traditional media, in this case Cadena Cope, had to issue an apology after they were caught editing two clips of Luis Enrique together in order to make him sound creepy.

Crown Princess Leonor goes to school in Glamorgan, Wales.

That appears not to have distracted the players, although Barcelona starlet Gavi must have had a hard job repressing a grin if he saw the reports about him this week. Various elements of the press feel they have evidence that Crown Princess Leonor, next in line to the Spanish throne, has a crush on the Barcelona starlet.

The Blaugrana might finally have come across some luck this week too. A change to the salary limits in Spain may allow them to spend much more freely next summer, which could have major impacts on both Barcelona and the market as a whole.

While Real Madrid fans watched their French and Brazilian players sail through to the knockout round, as well as Luka Modric, the latter came at the expense of Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard in the Belgian side. The former is never shy of expressing his opinion, and gave a strong response when he was asked if there was a mole in the Belgium squad, after reports of disagreements leaked out earlier in the week.

Spain face Japan on Thursday night knowing just a point will see them through to the Round of 16. Most have already done the maths and realised that if they top their group and get past Croatia, they are likely to face Brazil in a mouth-watering quarter-final.

 

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