There is a scene, simple but eloquent, insignificant but very revealing, that defines casemiro: Real Madrid has just won the European Super Cup against Eintracht and the Brazilian footballer (Sao José dos Campos, 1992), in his capacity as MVP of the final, appears in the press room of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. Sitting next to him are the UEFA translator and the head of the Press of
l Madrid,
Juan Camilo
. At the end of the intervention, the three of them get up, Camilo and the translator leave and Casemiro, before leaving, stays for a moment meticulously placing the three chairs that they had just occupied and that had been moved, in their correct position. As if he were in the living room of his house. Leaving everything neatly arranged. There is no form to know a person exactly, but there are gestures that give away. And this one so simple but so infrequent and more in a superstar (revealed by
Toribio
on Radio MARCA) is very emphatic in understanding that we are dealing with a good person, a quality that must come before any other virtue or ability in this increasingly insane society. Because Casemiro’s football category has no secrets.
There are his five Champions, three Leagues, three European Super Cups and as many in Spain, his three Club World Cups and a Copa del Rey with Madrid
to witness it. All this being a fundamental piece of the gear. Casemiro occupies an essential demarcation and has carried out his work in an exceptional way in the white team. His is a selfless position, dark work and enormous sacrifice for the group. The spotlights and glitter don’t stop at his figure (that’s why a defensive midfielder will never win a Ballon d’Or, a trophy that doesn’t know how to see football beyond glamour) but he is the anchor on which everything is built. The axis of rotation. The lever that helps build or destroy plays, as the case may be. An essential mechanism. If the midfielder is fine, the team is fine. In some games that seemed to go awry, I would sometimes look at Case’s face when the television showed a close-up of him, just like I look at the faces of the flight attendants during turbulence. If I see them serene, I remain very calm. If I saw Casemiro imperturbable, calm, I would be very calm.
Madrid’s showcase owes a lot to Casemiro
, and it is fair to recognize it now that he is leaving, ready to take the invisible handle of United. He hits needed Manchester with the signing of him, investing in the most qualified teacher among football pawns. Of those who quietly put the mortar so that the team does not collapse. A guy who wins you a Champions League in Paris just the same before the eyes of the entire planet that fights in Vallecas, secretly and without cameras, visiting as ambassador of
Save the Children
a children’s center for needy children, getting involved in the projects of this NGO with the same enthusiasm that he uses to defeat his rival on the pitch.
Children should be taught to want to be Casemiro
. To work for the common benefit at the expense of personal brilliance. Hug without rest. To sacrifice himself in the shadows. To smile in the face of adversity or a bad result. To treat the partner with care and with respect to the rival. To be polite. To help on the field and, above all, outside. To leave the chairs well placed.
