Albert Espinosa’s remarkable journey from a Barça aspiration to a life shaped by illness
Albert Espinosa, who once dreamed of guarding the Barça goal at just fourteen, faced a cancer diagnosis that would indelibly steer his path. He spent a decade in hospitals, battling the disease and turning those hard years into the seeds of his writing. From the experiences that illness claimed from school trips and ordinary life, he created pieces like Fourth floor and Polseres verlles. His drive to reclaim the simpler, ordinary moments inspired The way home, a television project that follows six celebrities as they revisit childhood school routes: Jesulín de Ubrique, Luis Tosar, Rosa López, Fernando Tejero, Ana Peleteiro, and Pocholo Martínez-Bordiú. La Sexta announced the premiere for Thursday, May 4 at 10:45 PM. [citation needed: interview materials and TV network press notes]
He wrote and directed books, plays, films and serials, acted in Summer Granny but presents for the first time.
There have been offers from other channels as he considers expanding to more shows. When someone hosts, audiences can picture them as the host. There has always been a late-night voice in his head, a constant internal contest.
Did he try to outpace fate that kept him from attending school every day since he was 14 with El camino a casa?
He explains that he mythologized the way home, recalling it as a moment of freedom. The concept for the show lingered for years; during a chat on El hormiguero with Pablo Motos and Jorge Salvador, the idea finally took shape. Within a day and a half, Atresmedia gave a firm yes, a response that surpassed expectations and moved the project forward quickly. [citation needed: program development notes]
His aim is to move audiences to tears. And he achieved that.
He admits his goal was to stir emotion, telling the team that the guests should cry. Some believed it would be tough with certain participants like Luis Tosar or Pocholo, yet all the emotions that surfaced came from genuine feelings rather than sadness.
Jorge Salvador will be right when he says you are a sentimental terrorist.
He loves being present on screen. A favorite line from El hormiguero is that people come to have fun today, so he invites them to come ready to feel something today.
He thought of a future as a Barça goalkeeper when the cancer diagnosis arrived.
He remembers trying out as a Barça youth goalkeeper, tests that showed promise, followed by the shocking cancer diagnosis two weeks later. He notes that those early moments in Barça’s Masía series felt like a memory of times past. He even played against Jesulín in El camino a casa, where both claim strong football skills, and that comparison adds texture to his recollections.
“They told me it would be hard to make Luis Tosar and Pocholo cry. But they’re all crying”
How is the series progressing?
Seven episodes were written to depict the atmosphere of Barça Masía, later refined in collaboration with the actors. It feels like Polseres verlles, yet set in a countryside home. Presently, Barça Studios is negotiating a release plan. [citation needed: production notes]
As a child, he faced only a 3 percent chance of survival. Now he nears fifty.
He endured the removal of a leg, a lung, and part of the liver, with doctors offering limited hope because the cancer affected many children. A treatment he received in San Francisco provided a unique chance, and he has not returned to a hospital since turning 24. He notes that the experience echoed the tale of Luis Enrique’s daughter.
He once predicted his own death for a date in 2023 but was wrong—and life continued.
In a novel titled The Best Thing to Go Is to Come Back, set in 2074, he imagines events like Messi’s double-goal World Cup triumph, epidemics, and wars. He even envisaged artificial intelligence and the rise of robots that shape history. He once contemplated suicide, choosing the date out of affection for Sant Jordi, yet fate intervened. Today, he prefers not to set another date for such thoughts. [citation needed: literary notes]
How many projects remain in his future?
He believes in stages. Every six years, life shifts. He now feels compelled to host the programs running in his mind, which means leaving some past pursuits behind. He stepped back from theater to focus on TV and films, leaving behind three books and planning many more installments of The Way Home, along with competitions and late-night work. A new phase begins, aiming to push from behind the scenes into the foreground.