A moment of great triumph for Spain’s defender Aymeric Laporte

The photo you see here captures a truly great moment of triumph for Spanish defender Aymeric Laporte.

The photo above was taken on March 18, 2017—almost 19 years ago. At the time, France was playing a friendly match against Spain, and Laporte was representing France, but he was a substitute and didn’t play a single minute.

Ironically, that match also ended with a 2-0 victory for Spain.

So how did Laporte end up playing for Spain later on?

What happened was that Laporte was born in France and captained all the youth national teams—the U-17s, U-18s, U-19s, and U-20s—before joining the senior national team.

However, he was left off the 2018 World Cup roster and didn’t get his chance.

His youth coach said at the time that Laporte was far from becoming a complete player. promising

That’s why Laporte decided to represent Spain in 2020 and went on to have a perfect international career:

he won the European Championship and the UEFA Nations League with Spain, defeated France itself, reached the World Cup final, and became the European player with the most consecutive matches without a loss—22 games!

Not only that, but Laporte is also the third-most frequent player to break through defensive lines in the World Cup and the third-most involved in his team’s attacking sequences with 1,181 touches.

That’s why Laporte cried after the match—because he experienced a moment of justice that was incredibly precious.

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