Torelló (Osona)“This is crazy, from the cradle. We already have two drinks, now we want three. One was brought by Diego, this one is brought by Lionel. We are going to be champions like in 86. Lionel, you deserve this cup“. It is one of the songs of the World Cup and is also sung in the Munich bar, in Torelló, as in many other places in Catalonia. The bar is run by Natalia Sánchez (1975) and Javier Soria (1974). Born in Buenos Aires, they arrived together in the town of Osonenc in 2001.
Speaking of dates: they both remember June 29, 1986 as if it were today, the day Argentina lifted its second and last World Cup to the skies of Mexico, with Maradona at the helm. “That day I went with my father to the Obelisco. It was brutal, terrible,” emphasizes Javier. That June the final was played at 12 noon according to the Argentine clock, like this year. They already have bookings for Sunday, but don’t want to talk about the final until this Tuesday’s semi-final against Croatia (8pm). “Step by step,” they repeat. “Nowadays football is very athletic and anyone can beat anyone. Argentina has Messi and France, Mbappé, but this is not tennis. It is football”, emphasizes Javi. He has the River Plate crest tattooed on his twin. Natalia explains that her eldest son, when he asked her for the shirt for the photograph that illustrates this text, told her that if they asked her if Argentina would win the World Cup, she should say no, so as not to bring bad luck. Also out of superstition, he hasn’t washed his shirt since the start of the tournament.
“If Argentina doesn’t win, all three of them will cry. If now they cry with joy when we score a goal…” says Natalia, granddaughter and daughter of exiles from the Civil War. The children started by watching the World Cup in the bar, until they discovered that there was a trap: “In the group stage they came here, but I kept asking them for help every two and three and now they go to my sister’s house. S “they gather about 20 Argentines”. Last Friday, she and Javi saw the triumph against Holland, in the quarter-finals, working. “I was watching TV with one eye and the iron with the other,” confesses Javi. “It was the worst day. And one of the best. Because it ended well, but we suffered a lot. When the game ended I couldn’t feel my legs and I had a knot in my stomach. I couldn’t have dinner,” he points out. They only stopped to watch, and suffer, the penalty shootout. There were more than fifty people in the bar. “There were people who had never come. When they were leaving I would ask them if they had eaten well and they would tell me about the game,” laughs Natalia. He talks to the background party: he wants to taste it calmly.
From Catalonia to Argentina
“We were ten or twelve Argentines. When the game ended we started to sing”I’m Argentine, it’s a feeling” and all the people here began to sing with us. They all sang “I’m Argentinean“. It was crazy,” they continue. They ended up jumping around a flag hugging each other albiceleste, Catalans and Argentines. “There was even a boy who was crying. I told him not to cry, that there were still two games left,” adds Natalia. He continues: “We sent the videos to Argentina and people didn’t believe it. They asked me if we were all Argentines. And I said, “No, what’s going on.” It’s amazing how people are experiencing it and feeling it. They were hugging us like if we were lifelong. Or as if we were all from Buenos Aires. I returned home full, happy. It’s nice that they enjoy with us what we feel.” “The best thing about it all is that you don’t feel so far from home,” he adds.
The figure who explains this communion has a name and a surname: Leo Messi. “We are surprised by the love that the people here have for him,” emphasizes Natalia. He admits that maybe it’s bigger than what they can feel: “I notice that people miss him. It’s amazing how much they love him.” “All this is because of him. He has made us known to the generation after Maradona’s. Before you went anywhere in the world and you said you were Argentine and they said “Maradona”. Today it happens with Messi”, they continue. They also recognize that they almost long for the World Cup more for Messi than for Argentina, in fairness. And that on Friday they loved the angry, more Argentinian and Maradona version of the 10, angry with Louis van Gaal and with Holland in general. “He was missing that,” says Javi. “There are people from here who have come to us and told us “oh, how bad, how rude”. But we are proud of his reaction. He has been hit a lot, not now, always, and he defended himself. Because he’s good, but he’s not dumb. We really liked him bringing out that character,” they claim.
“If he won, he would no longer be compared to Maradona. He would be the best. It’s the only thing he lacks. For me, he’s already better and he doesn’t need it, but he needs it,” remarks Natalia. They talk with their eyes full of emotion. Football brings them back home: “Now Argentina is in a very difficult economic situation. As always, wow. And the World Cup would be a joy for the people. The people would suffer again later, but for a while they would forget about all this and I would smile. In Argentina, football covers up everything that is bad and brings people together.” It also unites across borders.
