Horta, the hero of Portugal who has caused a ‘war’ in Malaga

Ricardo Horta is the proper name that dominates this Friday all the covers of Portugal and part of those of Spain. The Portuguese scored the goal with which the neighboring team took a point from Villamarín against Luis Enrique’s team.

Spain took the lead after a remarkable drive by Gavi, which generated a magnificent play. He launched a pass into space to Sarabia who, in a magnificent first touch, enabled Morata to push the first goal into the Portuguese nets. When Spain was a few minutes away from certifying its first victory, the former Málaga footballer, Ricardo Horta, certified the tie. In a similar move and in the same goal, Horta found himself ready to beat Unai Simón and neither hesitated nor failed.

Thus, the headlines are repeated today in the press of the neighboring country. “Horta, savior”, headline in A Bola, “Horta, big time”, headline in Récord and with “Horta shows what it’s worth” opens O Jogo, the third Portuguese newspaper.

Precisely, his value is what marks his future, which is being decided right now between Benfica, the club interested in signing him, Sporting de Braga, the club he plays for, and Málaga, his former club. “Benfica? I’m focused on the national team and in the future we’ll see”, assured the player in the Benito Villamarín to a question from the Portuguese press to try to reduce the attention on a subject that occupies informative space on the other side of the border.

Ricardo Horta has just stood out with Braga and Benfica has been interested in him by making an offer of 10 million euros. This was rejected by the group in which Horta plays and the case that bears the same name was ‘unleashed’. What is the problem? According to Malaga, the Costa del Sol club still owns 67% of the player’s rights.

Thus, Horta was the protagonist in Portugal and also in Malaga a few hours before scoring with Spain. Manolo Gaspar, sports director of Málaga, spoke about the footballer’s situation in Récord just one day before it occupied the entire width of its cover. “Malaga has 67 percent of the player’s pass. It is also true that there is an agreement and that Braga, if they reject an offer of more than five million, must keep 67 percent of Malaga”, assured the sports director malaguista, who demands that the contract be executed as it was signed.

At the moment, from Braga, they defend their right to decide on Ricardo Horta. “Braga is the only entity that decides on its assets and has the right not to want to negotiate for Ricardo Horta and it is not going to do so,” he said.

The player, while the case is being resolved, will continue to focus on the Portuguese team. The team led by Cristiano Ronaldo still has games pending against Switzerland (June 5) and the Czech Republic in Portugal (June 9) as well as a home match against the Swiss team to close the first four rounds of the League of Nations.