This commentator, Ana Samboal, basically said that the police officer in Valencia was just doing his job when he blindsided a 68 YO retired teacher, shoving her from behind to the ground, breaking her nose. 🤦🏻‍♂️

I love the angle taken by @kenearlys on the Champions League final. He’s absolutely right to dedicate so much time to how Arsenal waste time 🗑️ The drinking water and human life lines

The Pope visits Madrid next week. I wonder if we will see a spike in birth rates in 9 months time like Ireland in 1979. But there would be 10 nights of Bad Bunny in Madrid to also factor into the equation.

12:30 vs 20:15 - the Depor game still on. Streets already cleaned. Spain is elite at going from fiesta to business as usual in the blink of an eye.

🇪🇸 🗞️ Weekend read: Spainfographics 11. Entrepreneurship, salaries, the working week across the EU, property prices, Generation NINI, and a look at where Spain’s 10,000+ castles are distributed. Link below.

Kylian Mbappe 7 years at PSG = PSG 0 Champions Leagues During that time Real Madrid won 3. The 2 years after his departure = PSG 2 Champions Leagues, Real Madrid 0.

A Saturday in A Coruña 🇪🇸

+1 We looked at it closely, but it's an expensive, time consuming joke that does nothing to encourage new businesses. We concluded it just wasn't worth the hassle. The losers were the Spanish treasury/population. We are far from alone in this - I know others who have said the same.

Great stats. Opening a new business in Spain is complex, slow, and very expensive. Running one is exactly the same, or more so. It just isn't worth it for most. It positively discourages entrepreneurs. It is crazy.

My well qualified, trilingual (English, Spanish, Basque) friend ditched her decent job just to study oposiciones and then cruise to retirement. Seems common.

The number of new businesses opening each year as a % of the total is way higher in Portugal than in Spain. The rate in northern Portugal is double that of Galicia. Why is that? The Spanish Dream of becoming a civil servant? open.substack.com/pub/brendybo...

🇪🇸Weekend read with your cafe con leche ☕️ Spain lags way(!) behind Portugal in new business creation, generation NINI is almost no more, castles in Catalonia, and what you need in earn in Spain’s top 10%. Enjoy, share, gracias - link to read below.

📢 Final call for The Final Countdown. 🏆 🇪🇺 A Rayo Vallecano special before their first ever final. Link below.

What connects Madrid, German dad rock, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the city of Leipzig? Vallecas and its football team. Tomorrow Rayo Vallecano play their first ever final, in Europe - 25 years after their first and last European adventure. It’s a great story - link below⬇️

Deportivo La Coruña are back in the big time.

Some seasonal goodness to detox your timeline 🇪🇸

Loved this collection - 3 of the stories are set in Catalonia. As a nation we’re not known for straight talking. We say ‘no thanks you’re grand’ instead of ‘no.’ We love ambiguity and skirting around issues. But Ireland, paradoxically, is elite at short story writing.

Conference League final week 🏆 Crystal Palace v Rayo Vallecano. A piece on how a tiny team from a massive working class neighborhood has reached its first ever final (ever!!) 25 years after its first, last, and only European adventure. Enjoy, share, gracias - link below⬇️

Excellent as always. I had the good fortune to go to watch Rayo a few years ago and it is one of the best football experiences of my life. We're all Rayo on Wednesday aren't we?

After long eight years, Deportivo La Coruña are back in the big time. My 3rd year in A Coruña, the city’s team has been promoted twice.

Magnificent stuff Brendan 👏 Had no idea there are actually books about Rayo! What appears miraculous is in fact unbeatable collective spirit, no fear mentality, smart recruitment & progressive coaching What a story if they can pull off the win

Sunday read with your churros: UEFA Conference League final special. Rayo Vallecano v Crystal Palace, and why Rayo, finally, are where they’re supposed to be. Enjoy, share, gracias! open.substack.com/pub/brendybo...

Sunday read with your churros: UEFA Conference League final special. Rayo Vallecano v Crystal Palace, and why Rayo, finally, are where they’re supposed to be. Enjoy, share, gracias! open.substack.com/pub/brendybo...

A Coruña getting ready to see its football team return to the Primera after eight years. Tomorrow is the first match ball. A win away at Valladolid and they’re back in the big time. The city in great form today, blue and white everywhere.

Madrids very own Tranmere Rovers . Well sort of ?

Plenty being written about Rayo at the moment ahead of the @Conf_League final, but this piece from Brendan is up there with the best of them. #EuroRayo ⚡

Weekend piece: UEFA Conference League final special. A look at why Rayo Vallecano are finally exactly where they’re supposed to be. Enjoy, share, gracias amigos! open.substack.com/pub/brendybo...

Spain heating up.

Jeff Bezos’s vans don’t give you nice streets. In the barrio, it’s in the interests of all local store owners to contribute to the kind of streets people like spending time (and money) in. #Spain

Deportivo La Coruña only have to win one of their final two games to return to Primera. My neighbours are shouting out their windows, others beeping horns as they drive past. Brilliant!

Fine day for Día das Letras Galegas and a massive Depor game. They’re 3 games from a return to the Primera 🍀

It’s the most wonderful time of the week 🇪🇸

Letter in today’s Irish Independent. Ireland has too much money.

Enjoyed this book by @ignaciopato.bsky.social about Vallecas and its football team. Substack piece out next week ahead of Rayo Vallecano’s first ever cup final 📬

Crazy press conference on Tuesday, delirious interview on Wednesday, arguing with fans in the Bernabéu on Thursday. Florentino Pérez needs a weekend break in Toledo or Segovia.

Crazy press conference on Tuesday, delirious interview on Wednesday, arguing with fans in the Bernabéu on Thursday. Florentino Pérez needs a weekend break in Toledo or Segovia.

Planning permission denied because locals are happier to have an abandoned hotel in ruins than build houses - during a housing crisis. The NIMBY republic that is Ireland.

“The press conference turned into a complete farce - a delusional display where Florentino Pérez couldn't string a coherent sentence together. All he did was show his arrogance & sexism and signs that he’s running a great club like Real Madrid with the instincts of a dictator.”

The Flo Show. Totally nuts. To be able to run for president of Real Madrid you need to have been a socio for at least 20 years and be able to stump up a bank guarantee to the sum of 15% of the club’s budget (works out at €200m+)

People ask me all the time about life in northern Spain, so I sat down with Grace Kiernan, co-founder of Move to Cantabria, to discuss the reality of life up in lush green Spain. open.substack.com/pub/brendybo...

People ask me all the time about life in northern Spain, so I sat down with Grace Kiernan, co-founder of Move to Cantabria, to discuss the reality of life up in lush green Spain. open.substack.com/pub/brendybo...

“The defining drama of the 2025-26 Premier League season was perfect – if anything a bit too perfect, a bit too on the nose. The archetypal contemporary English football scene: a corner, deep into injury time. The goalkeeper has joined the attack…

The hour before a long Sunday lunch, the happiest hour of the week in Spain. Cheers 🍻

Buenos días ☀️ 🇪🇸

Four of the six managers in this season’s European finals are Spanish. Nuts.

Spain has just one team in a European final this year. They wear white, they’re from Madrid, and their name is Rayo Vallecano. Rayo Vallecano are in a European Final. RAYO!!!!

“Kvaratskhelia burst into the space behind the full-back, leaving Upamecano in a footrace where he had all the aerodynamic advantage of an elephant chasing a panther.”🤣 Diego Torres in El País. elpais.com/deportes/fut...

Nice to have nice streets. 📍 A Coruña, Spain 🇪🇸

Ireland is unrivalled. A country whose rail infrastructure peaked a hundred years ago is investing taxpayer money in a temporary train station for a golf weekend 🤣 Ffs.

I’ll think about this tomorrow as I walk to my local cafe after attending a free medical appointment and doing the school run by foot