Real Betis star Marc Bartra’s wife Melissa Jimenez is a sports journalist who loves MotoGP
Stunning brunette wed ex-Borussia Dortmund defender in idyllic Barcelona ceremony in 2017 and has played Nelly Furtado in a TV show
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IT IS not often that a professional footballer faces a fight to be the biggest sports fanatic in his family - but that is the case with Marc Bartra.
The current Real Betis centre-back, 27, is married to 31-year-old journalist and MotoGP nut Melissa Jimenez.
They wed in an idyllic ceremony in Barcelona in June 2017 after being a couple since February 2014.
Before that, though, mum-of-two Melissa made a name for herself covering motorbike racing for Sky Italia.
It is little surprise she has a love of two wheels given her father worked for Spanish motorbike manufacturer JJ Cobas.
Dad Antonio took his little girl to races and from an early age she developed a passion for MotoGP.
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Her career in journalism looked a match made in heaven when she started a communication sciences degree in Barcelona.
And it came to fruition in 2013 when she was picked by Mediaset Spain to replace Lara Alvarez as their paddock commentator.
Unfortunately her contract was not renewed in 2016 - but she was back on screens later that year when impersonating Nelly Furtado and singing 'I'm like a bird' on hit Spanish show Your Face is Familiar to Me.
But her biggest test came when Marc was injured in a bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund bus in April 2017.
She rushed to his bedside after the horrific incident and aided him on his road to recovery.
Bartra suffered a broken wrist in the attack and joined La Liga side Real Betis from Dortmund in January 2018.