Divided hearts, double passion

"I'm sorry, Mum". With a brief but heartfelt sorry, the Cabrera Schultz brothers apologised to their German-born mother after having given their all in cheering on Spain in their knockout match against the hosts in Stuttgart.

Manuel and Víctor have taken advantage of the European Championship's passage through Germany to meet up with their friend Nicolás Crespo Fischer, whose father is Spanish, mother German and who was born in Barcelona like them, and dress in the red and white colours for the duel against Die Mannschaft.

"There has always been a lot of tension with football at home, because not only are they my parents, but we also have a lot of German friends and it's normal to have a bit of a sporting banter with this kind of match," explains Manuel, who currently works in Berlin, while his brother Victor studies in Cologne and his friend Nicolas in Munich.

The three of them experienced an intense quarter-final with their trip to Stuttgart, their meeting with the national team players (captain Morata has sent a message to Manolo, the patriarch of the Cabrera family), their obligatory visit to the national team supporters' area and the final wild celebrations after Mikel Merino's goal in the last minute of extra time.

A day for history that, with the permission of their parents, they will always remember fondly as they try to convince half of their families to make Spain their favourite team for the rest of the tournament.