Mallorca’s Pirate puts World Cup playoff heartbreak aside to stun Real Madrid | Sid Lowe

Kosovo’s Vedat Muriqi broke down in tears after a late winner that took his side out of the relegation zone For one magical moment in the sunshine and the spotlight, the roughest man in Spanish football was the smoothest, the toughest, its most vulnerable. With his ponytail and the stubble covering a face that’s been lived in, they call Vedat Muriqi the Pirate and he’s supposed to have the turning circle of a galleon. But here there was grace, all 6ft 4in and 14 stone 8lbs of him moving like ...

By Sid Lowe