And the dreaded goring of Morante arrived in Pontevedra, cutting a historic season in half.

A bull has ended Morante de la Puebla's historic season in Pontevedra, the season of his life, and suddenly the summer has been bereft of enthusiasm. So much truth came at a price. That seat and that adjustment with the bulls had been warning for a long time, as slowly as Morante de la Puebla bullfights. The goring occurred at that same astonishing speed. It's serious, but it could have been worse. It's clean.

Morante , a historic bullfighter in the prime of his career, had turned the year around, the only instance in bullfighting where one of his kind , one of the so-called artistic bullfighters, has stopped being a companion and instead commands. And dominates the bullring. And becomes a living myth, a standing legend. It was clear that only a goring could stop Morante. The season is split in half. The orphaned summer.

Morante de la Puebla was wounded just as the afternoon had begun in Pontevedra. Garcigrande's first bull was falling short, falling asleep, fading from below. The maestro, who never misses a step, gave his all, in the middle, on the left, always so true and tight . In one of those moments, he caught him, also as if in slow motion. On the ground, he seemed to have escaped, but when he got up, the entire bag of his right thigh was torn open. And amid the commotion of crews and capes, blood could be seen. They inspected him as if with hand-held scanners, and then they all lifted him out, forming a men's stretcher. And they took him to the infirmary without knowing the extent of the goring.

Morante had flown from Jerez the morning after the bullfight in El Puerto. And he was back to bullfighting, infiltrated, due to the flip in Marbella a few days earlier. And this time there was no cape of fortune in the bullfight. He finished off the bull, Talavante. They proceeded to operate on him in the infirmary of the Plaza de San Roque, under local anesthesia. Juan José Domínguez, his banderillero , said that the entrance wound was "wide." And he agreed, as all the versions stated, that the goring did not touch veins or arteries. Morante's manager, Pedro J. Marques, clarified that there were two trajectories. They inserted a drain before transferring him to Quirón Hospital. From there, the maestro wanted to leave for Seville as soon as possible. He even requested voluntary discharge despite the opposition of the surgeon, Dr. García Riestra. Perhaps he's already on his way. The report placed the "anfractuous wound," or the entrance, at 10 centimeters , which ruptures subcutaneous tissue and muscle fascia. He has a torn abductor magnus muscle in two trajectories. One extending downwards, 10 centimeters, and the other extending upwards, 6 centimeters. The prognosis is grave, concludes the report, which is sobering.

The afternoon remained strange and bitter, and over the bitterness rose a colossal Daniel Luque. After the goring, the bullfighter's turn had been changed, and a bullfighter named Coraje jumped out, as if summing up the feeling in the bullring at that moment after Morante's goring. He was simply extraordinary. By far the best of the six. Daniel Luque caused a formidable stir. The Garcigrande maintained the same rhythm from start to finish, always from below, with a generous stride, especially with his right hand. Justo now holds the extra meter of the Núñez brothers. Luque had left his cap at the door of the infirmary. He held it all to take control of it until the explosion with luquecinas, and completely cut off the bull's ears. It was unclear whether they were asking for the tail for the bullfighter or a lap of the ring for the bull, which is what ultimately happened, to the enthusiasm of Núñez Feijóo and Mariano Rajoy.

Daniel Luque's dimension would still reach its peak with a sixth bull that demanded a world of merit. So cast and complex, yet important. One of those that earn Luque the title of maestro, with which he brings out all his registers, that brutal place he dominates. He swallowed and dominated, and even won with that yielding left horn. A tremendous DL, where the others choke or fall short. A superb sword thrust. The Garcigrande was tough enough to die. A descabello. One ear from both here and Madrid. His intermediate bull had been the poorest and most lackluster of a well-built corrida with many keys.

Alejandro Talavante skillfully cut an ear from a bull that was acting unevenly—a bull for Luque—and gave him a good measure. He didn't solve any of the many problems the fifth bull presented. And with his sword, they saw him pass through the Cíes.