The most turbulent 48 hours of Morante de la Puebla's historic year, exclusively in EL MUNDO

Morante de la Puebla has been the protagonist of 48 crucial hours in the history of bullfighting, and EL MUNDO has been a privileged witness to that journey . The newspaper's bullfighting specialist, Zabala de la Serna, and photographer Alberto Di Lolli have accompanied the maestro from Saturday morning until this Monday, a hectic and turbulent weekend during which Morante faced Roca Rey in the bullring of El Puerto de Santa María on Saturday and suffered a serious goring in Pontevedra on Sunday. Without leaving Morante and his team's side during these days, the editor and photographer have lived through a historic moment and will recount it in an extensive special report that we will publish tomorrow .

"I'm closer to the bulls than ever," says Morante, referring to his historic and milestone season. He's not just the bullfighter of the year, but the one for many years to come, and he's aware of it. "The winter was very harsh, but the season is turning out to be miraculous ," he confides, while traveling by private plane from Andalusia to Galicia.

The bullfighter opens the doors to his private space in hotel rooms, vans, restaurants, bullrings, and the plane he flew across Spain. We accompany him as he receives an anesthetic injection and plasters his shins, listening to Andrés Calamaro, dressed in an elegant silk dressing gown by Gennaro Rubinacci.

"Rivalry in the bullring is beautiful, but always within a certain level of respect," he says, referring to his notorious argument with Andrés Roca Rey on Saturday in El Puerto de Santa María. Morante approached Roca to criticize him for a pass ("That's done another time, after the second puyazo, not the fourth. It's not legal here"), and the Peruvian haughtily replied: "Maestro, smoke a cigar slowly."

The maestro smoked a cigar, not a cigarillo, on Sunday, before the serious injury in the Pontevedra bullring. The maestro from La Puebla remained calm on the stretcher. "It's just a hazard of the job," he told us before the operation.

Morante de la Puebla spent the night feverish after being discharged from the Quirón clinic in Pontevedra last night, where he underwent further X-ray examinations to rule out further damage from the goring.

The bullfighter underwent surgery in the bullring under local anesthesia and, once the drain was inserted, he was transferred to the hospital, which he left by mutual agreement to move to the Rías Bajas Hotel.