Ceballos puts on his boots

Dani Ceballos continues to take a small step every day in his attempt to return to play a game in these Olympic Games. Tests he underwent on Monday confirmed that he suffers a grade II sprain to his left ankle, but that other parts of his foot were not affected that it was feared could have suffered damage. The time off in normal conditions is between three and four weeks, but he wants to shorten the terms.

The result of the medical tests was a huge positive charge on his state of mind, because now he knows that he has a real chance of helping the Olympic team in Tokyo again. This Tuesday, in training in Tokyo, he took another step: he put on his football boots. He did it for a reason: if he manages to play, he will be bandaged, so the goal is for the shoe to adapt to the new shape of the foot. He dared to touch the ball as he walked. His physiotherapy sessions with Álex Benito are being very hard (the first one begins when he gets up and some days the last one ends at dawn) but they are paying off, because he improves every day.

The real goal is to reach the semifinals, although the Utrera wants to try to shorten the deadlines even more and be in the hypothetical quarters. “Dani's thing has been miraculous. In other circumstances it would have been an injury that lasted much longer. If we are lucky enough to be in the quarterfinals, he will be there, there …”, De la Fuente said when asked by Ceballos.

Mingueza

The other injured, Óscar Mingueza, trained normally on Tuesday with the rest of his teammates. The ultrasound he underwent on Monday showed that he is not injured. De la Fuente must decide whether to force him this Wednesday against Argentina (1:00 p.m., La1), because he has not trained for several days and has lost rhythm, or if he decides to be conservative and reserve him for a hypothetical quarter-final cross in case of getting the pass (Spain needs a draw).