Le Normand, Spain’s pianist

When night falls, a soft melody that enchants everyone plays around the Spanish base camp. The notes floating out of a beautiful black piano break the silence of this refuge in the heart of the Black Forest and one is surprised to discover that it is Robin Le Normand who is producing the soft sounds, the central defender for Spain is also their piano player.

"My brother plays, my sister plays... As I'm the older brother, I wanted to play too. I don't play like them, but I do know some songs," says the defender, who finds in music an vent for the emotions of his battles on the pitch. “In the world of football there is only football and it's true that when I go back home I like playing the piano, it's another world”.

It sounds beautiful, sweet and soft, and you go looking for songs he plays. "I say: "if i like a song, let's see if I can play it...". My level doesn't allow me to play a lot of them, but I can play some".

He loves Tom Odell's "Another Love", and was determined to perfect his technique by listening to and practicing it over and over again. "That was the first one. The one I wanted to learn, it was all over social media and I loved it. I've put a lot of hours into learning it, and now I'm pretty good at it".

He's not wrong, it sounds great, but he still needs a little bit to loosen up and play for the whole team. "I'm working on that one, but I still don't know it well enough. Let's see if I can play one that can get everyone involved, but it's hard for me...", he says with an endearing touch of modesty.