Il Messaggiere - Matador feels 'complete' after 'El Cordobes' recognises paternity

Benitez, 86, who revolutionised Spain's bullfighting world in the 1960s with his acrobatic style, had long denied that Manuel Diaz, 54, who also uses the nickname "El Cordobes" in the bullring, is his son.

In 2016 a court in the southern city of Cordoba agreed to hear a paternity case after Diaz presented the results of DNA tests carried out on a restaurant napkin used by Benitez that was picked up by a private detective.

The court later that year ruled the two men were indeed related after an official DNA test showed there was a 99.9 percent probability that Benitez was the father of Diaz.

Despite the court ruling, ties between the two remained frosty.

But earlier this month Diaz posted a picture on his Instagram account of the two men smiling and embracing along with the caption: "The photo of my LIFE!".

Speaking in front of a large replica of the black and white photo at a packed press conference in Madrid on Tuesday, Diaz said Benitez now calls him "son" and the two men had recently forged a warm relationship.

"I had imagined what he could be like based on what I was told but he surpasses all my expectations," Diaz said, adding Benitez was "a very generous person, very affectionate".

"Not only did I need to find my father, I had to defend my mother's truth and honesty," he added. "I have fulfilled a key goal, something important for my life. My existence is complete."

Benitez, who has five other children, met Diaz's mother when she was working as a maid in Madrid.

His rise from an illiterate youth who was caught by police stealing chickens to top matador was narrated in the 1967 best-selling book by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre "Or I'll Dress You in Mourning: The Extraordinary Story of El Cordobes".

U.Sparacello--IM