Carlos Domínguez and a steer from José Luis Marca save the first bullfight in Olivenza

We all left this square on March 8, 2020, believing that the coronavirus pandemic was nothing more than a threat on the news and we returned, two years later, colder, windier and with many more masks, to attend the bullfight that opened the 2022 fair and to which Carlos Domínguez from Badajoz and the two bullfighters from Villanueva del Fresno, Manuel Perera and Eric Olivera, were summoned, the latter to formalize his debut with horses. The three Extremadurans should kill six horned animals from as many farms on the land: Juan Albarrán, Carriquiri, Vistalegre, José Luis Marca, Bernardino Píriz and Luis Albarrán.

Plaza Fundón opened, from Juan Albarrán’s iron, which corresponded in turn to the most veteran of the list, Carlos Domínguez. He tried it on with the cape from Badajoz without an option for showing off, before putting him before the horse so that he received a mere signal. He removed it for chicuelinas and finished off with a worked average. He began the task with a series of assists that were very well received by the lines and tried to make his enemy jealous on the crutch by the right python without the animal transmitting everything he asked for. On the left he seemed to have more travel but immediately proved to have more nobility than caste. A lackluster shot by Bernardines preceded two punctures, a warning and a lunge that ended with the animal in the sand and light palms in the stands.

The second, a wiry brunet from Carriquiri, was received by Manuel Perera with a failed porta gayola, in spite of which he insisted on greeting on his knees. Badly stung, he received a lackluster kick from the wind. He did not help at all in banderillas Rinconero, that was the name of Carriquiri, before Perera offered the public his death. Once again kneeling, Villanueva’s man tested his opponent for the two pythons with the crutch, but neither on his knees nor on his feet did he manage to get his head into the flannel with ambition. Without fixity or class, the animal only obeyed the voices of the bullfighter, who must have ended up hoarse from questioning his enemy. With his eyes on the lines, the steer did not attend to Perera’s ballet flats and did not collaborate at all in the supreme luck, forcing Perera to take a very long lunge on the second attempt and use the pithing to make it roll definitively.

Mouse was the name of the steer from Vistalegre with which Eric Olivera made his debut with horses and with which he doubled in the third to test his onslaught. Colorado, bocidorado and fastened with pythons, was well used on the horse and came loose from the debutante’s cape in the attempt to remove artistic. Miguelín Murillo showed off in banderillas just before Eric offered his debut steer to his masters Luis Reina and El Cartujano. He tested his opponent for the two pitons but soon found that all the nobility he treasured was equal to his lack of range and depth. He protested Vistalegre’s every attack and turned his face up as soon as he felt the stick of the crutch on him. Even so, Olivera persisted in his face and wrested recognition from the respectable. He closed the task with flats in the most artistic moment of the afternoon so far and put on a full lunge, back and fall, which earned him the first trophy of the afternoon.

The steer of José Luis Marca, named Mulato, came out in fourth position and was carried by verónicas by Carlos Domínguez to the media, among the recognition of the lines. He fought Mulato before the horse before receiving a brilliant take off from Badajoz with the cape on his back. Toast to the public and Domínguez knees to the ground to achieve two good right hands. Already on his feet, he listened to his gang and lowered his hand to put on another two good muletazos on the right. To the left, the steer had hardly traveled and Domínguez understood that, if he did not want to leave the plaza on foot, he had to insist on the right. He did so and got the best tickets of the job from him. Despite the fiasco of the first attempt, he returned to take the crutch to the left and achieved a couple of beautiful naturals. With the steer delivered, Domínguez bullfighted at will and managed to get the animal to charge nonstop amid the delirium of some lines that began to claim his pardon. The steer did not get tired of going through the crutch of Badajoz until, in an oversight of this, he caught it in a catch without consequences, at the same time that the first warning sounded. Two punctures and a half thrust preceded the second warning that ended with the animal in the sand. Ear for the good work of Badajoz.

Porta gayola Perera repeated in the fifth, this time with more luck, and later received Bernardino Píriz’s goal for verónicas. He gave the public his crutch job and went for his enemy on his knees. The animal lost its hands on a couple of occasions and tame before the first confrontation attempts of the Villanueva del Fresno who, faced with an enemy without strength or race, was forced to shorten the distances to try to get something clear from the fight . Two punctures and a lunge along the boards served to put an end to the worst bullfight of the afternoon. Palms for Perera in his farewell to Olivenza as a novillero and whistles for Píriz in the drag.

Luis Albarrán’s, who closed the square, disarmed Eric Olivera, after a good greeting by verónicas from Villanova. He knocked down the horse in a strange Castroreño maneuver that took time to solve between monosages and those responsible for the stable. After a third of inconsequential banderillas, Olivera offered the public his second steer with picks and went for his enemy determined to become the winner of the afternoon. However, he soon realized that he had no raw material for showing off and that, despite his apparent nobility, his enemy was not going to give him even an attack. The steer asked for a little more experience from his rapporteur and the bullfighter did enough to maintain his composure. Half a deep lunge was enough for Luis Albarrán’s copy to roll and Olivera received recognition from the public with an ovation.