Ferran Torres won the 2026 World Cup with Spain, but his celebrations turned sour back in Catalonia. A mural bearing the Barcelona forward's image was vandalised just hours after it was unveiled in the city.
Torres had been the hero of the final, scoring the only goal as Spain beat Argentina to claim the second world star in their history. Now he found himself at the centre of a crisis tied to Catalan political identity.
The artwork went up in the working-class Gracia district of Barcelona just 48 hours after La Roja's coronation. It showed the Barcelona player in the Spain shirt, holding and kissing the World Cup. Vandals struck during the night of Tuesday into Wednesday.
A group of Catalan separatists defaced the piece in protest at Torres representing Spain, according to French network RMC . They painted the player's face white and scrawled political slogans across the mural, including "Damn Spain" and "We want Catalan national teams".
Controversy had raged on social media from the moment the mural appeared, and by Wednesday morning it lay defaced.
TvBoy, the artist behind the artwork, took to his social media accounts to confirm he would repaint it. He vowed to press on with his project despite the vandalism.
It was not the first time. Before the World Cup final, another piece bringing together former and current Barcelona stars Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal was vandalised, daubed with the same messages linked to the Catalan separatist movement.
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