Joaquín and Marc Márquez finally meet!

Before starting the first Grand Prix of the season, Marc Márquez challenged football player Joaquín Sánchez on social media. Although they had exchanged messages, they still were yet to meet one other in person -until now. Before travelling to Argentina, in one of the many interviews that Marc Márquez will give throughout the season, this one caught him off guard: His interviewer was the Real Betis star, who has previously played for clubs such as Valencia and Fiorentina, as well as having been an international with Spain and participated in World Cups, European Championships and Olympic Games.

Thinking that a foreign journalist was waiting for him on one of the tourist buses in Madrid, Marc Márquez instead found Joaquín there. Both enjoyed a pleasant chat while they shared a small tour of the city, taking in emblematic sights such as the Cibeles and Neptuno fountains, Gran Vía and Plaza de España, as they talked about their professional and personal lives, the UEFA Champions League and the MotoGP World Championship, and more besides.

Among the most interesting topics that came up in conversation, Joaquín told Marc that “I had to choose between football or tennis”, while the Repsol Honda rider explained that he had to decide between motorcycles and football because his father told him “the races are on Sunday and the matches are too, so you decide”. They also talked about what it means to be a media personality and the difficulty involved, although both agreed that it can also be very rewarding to have thousands of fans around the world.