The Pope's speaker who humiliated a beggar

BarcelonaGoals, in football, we've seen many types. But this week, with the papal visit, we've seen some we didn't even know existed: "the Church's goals". Taking advantage of the visit of Leo XIV to the Santiago Bernabéu on Tuesday, Manolo Lama and his battle companion, Paco González, were in charge of narrating a curious spectacle. "You can really tell God is captaining this feat," said the usual commentator on Cadena COPE (the radio of the Episcopal Conference) for Real Madrid matches, as a series of balls were kicked into improvised goals set up in front of the Pope.

A sports journalist on radio and television —and the voice of one of the most successful football video games—, Manuel Lama Jiménez (Madrid, 1962), has always remained politically acquiescent, stating that he is not "an extremist of anything," in short, neither left nor right. Particularly known for narrating Real Madrid matches, it was Lama who in 2012 gave Cristiano Ronaldo the nickname "El Bicho" (which later led to many parodies). "Oh my goodness, I won't say "El Bicho", I'll say what a great goal they've scored today against spiritual worldliness," he said on Tuesday at the Bernabéu to encourage the attendees.

With more than 40 years of career, Lama is one of the most recognized broadcasters in the State and it seems that he keeps a good memory of his origins in the profession as an intern: "I didn't ask what day I delivered nor did I have holidays, and I was the happiest person in the world". An idea that he replicates with the interns who arrive at the newsroom: "I scold them a lot, the interns (...) because it seems inexplicable to me that they give you an opportunity and you don't kill yourself for it", he stated in October 2024. All this while recalling an anecdote about a student who preferred to leave with his girlfriend instead of staying for a meeting after nine in the evening. "He must not have liked it much, that".

Among the journalist's notable traits are the rivalries he has cultivated over time. The most recognized is the one he has with the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, whom he defined as an "expert at demanding the heads of anyone who criticizes him." Lama has always wanted to distance himself from the "sucking press," which he considers to be subservient to the powerful, like Florentino. Or like the Spanish coach Javier Clemente at the time, who even went so far as to say that it would have benefited him if Lama had died in the traffic accident he suffered in 1992.

The most bizarre moment of Lama's career occurred in May 2010, during the build-up to the Europa League final in Hamburg between Atlético de Madrid and Fulham. Lama was doing a live report, surrounded by Madrid fans, and in an attempt to show a festive atmosphere, he encouraged Spanish fans to give coins, credit cards, and even mobile phones to a beggar while he narrated it humorously. "May this man be happy, damn it", he stated in images that quickly went viral, partly because the alms were being returned to the pockets of those who had given them.