Bravo

Rafael Bravo is getting ready to be the Spain’s manager for the World Cup in Russia. Now the greatest responsibility a Spaniard can have has fallen on his shoulders: choosing the national soccer team. His pride and the future of the nation are in his hands.

A long career as a player and trainer make him seem like the man for the job. But there’s one problem: the day he gets the news, he faints from an anxiety attack. From that moment, the clock starts ticking, and he has less than a month to figure out what’s going on. To relive, hand in hand with the reader, his wild childhood in Extremadura, his early years as a soccer player, his heated marriage and inevitable divorce, his surreal retreat to Japan… At his side, Doctor Angulo, a sports psychologist, and Marta Prieto, the PR director for the team, will not rest until he is ready. Sack up, Rafael. Success is waiting for you on the other side.

In this novel, Xavi Daura uses humor and hyperbole to bring a voice to a character halfway between José Luis Torrente and Tony Soprano. The result is a story to read while laughing aloud about a specimen of Spanish manhood as reprehensible as he is unforgettable.