Diego Urdiales, sublime in his natural state, leaves the field on the shoulders of the crowd in Bilbao.

Veteran bullfighter Diego Urdiales, who left the ring on the shoulders of the crowd after cutting off two ears from the fifth bull of the afternoon for a performance of sublime natural passes, once again demonstrated his mastery this Friday at the Vista Alegre bullring in Bilbao, which has always been one of the key venues in his career and where he has triumphed repeatedly.

Even so, the Riojan bullfighter didn't enter the bullfighting fair directly, but rather came to replace the convalescent Morante de la Puebla, in a year in which he was being sidelined by the bullfighting companies and with a limited presence in the bullrings, despite the fact that, as he demonstrated yesterday, he is in one of his best moments. And, as has happened on other occasions in this ring, he showed it with the bull that opened the bullring, a red bull that used its massive horns to always try to hook a muleta that Urdiales, with a perfect interplay of space, height, and pulse, didn't let him touch except on a few occasions, in a technically exemplary performance that he also finished with an anthological sword thrust. He was then asked for an ear, though not granted, but which he was going to take for a double from the fourth bull, a long, deep, and somewhat coarse-bodied bull that was tame in the first thirds, even fleeing from the picador, but that showed its true colors, its good condition, as soon as, now the two of them alone, Urdiales brought it out low, walking with great bullfighting skill, to the middle of the ring. The first three series of passes with his right hand already had substance and connection, even though the Garcigrande native didn't carry his charges to the end. However, with gentleness and pauses, the bullfighter from Arnedo gradually lengthened and concretized them until he turned to his left hand, when the peak arrived. Because the three series he put together with his left hand can well be described as sublime, magnetizing and rocking the bull in the smooth flights of the cloth, moving them effortlessly with a rhythm, naturalness, and precision that were truly masterful.

And the once-full stands of Vista Alegre vibrated like never before with the most authentic and difficult-to-see fundamental bullfighting. The flourishes, the gusto, and the pride of a bullfighter who reveled in this unexpected opportunity to once again demonstrate his true artistic dimension, led to another perfectly executed sword thrust, although this time not from above, and the awarding of two ears by a precinct that, without hesitation, simultaneously waved its two handkerchiefs to reward the best performance of the 2025 Bilbao fair. Such a work of such significance almost unsettled its two fellow bullfighters, who tried, unsuccessfully, to approach that level with the last two bulls.

And so, Alejandro Talavante, who had been mule-ing insincerely and dully with a noble and measured second bull, put all his effort and greater precision into the fifth, the finest and best-built bull of the run. The problem was that Garcigrande slowed down his classy gallop when he became distressed or injured under banderillas, a defect that was more evident in Talavante's abrupt and ill-advised start to the faena, which never helped him settle. The Extremadura native thus opted to get very close to the lackluster animal, which had no choice but to turn him around at the end of an almost desperate performance, which earned him a consolation ear.

Borja Jiménez also failed to treat the two bulls in his group well, greeting them with a portagayola. In his case, the Sevillian performed at breakneck speed with both the cape and the muleta, and with a level of tension that wasn't what the third bull needed to consolidate a quality that wasn't accompanied by excessive strength. What's more, after Urdiales' lesson, he was incredibly energetic with the last bull, a serious red bull that, very tame with the varas, broke away in the final third to quickly charge from a distance and repeat some dedicated, deep charges to which Jiménez failed to provide any flair or fluidity, almost always positioned on the side of his neck, linking short passes with which he couldn't fully exploit his remarkable skill.