BarcelonaHe had never vibrated with a World Cup. And it’s a feeling I liked. I guess, in large part, because she was envious of others who could actually hear her. But I didn’t have a national team, at least until this World Cup. And the next one, unfortunately, I will be without again, because mine would be Catalonia. Today, however, I was thrilled to see Messi lift the only trophy he was missing on the last occasion he could do so. He lifted it with a smile that hid all the scars with Argentina, which today he sutured forever more.
He had never vibrated with a World Cup. And it’s a feeling I liked. I’ve seen myself putting my hands to my head after France equalized twice. I have seen myself in a final between the Argentines and the French, and I have told myself that it will be worth it to endure the tears and the tales of the epic and suffering of the victory of Argentina, because I feel this triumph too a little mine During this month I found myself explaining – almost with goosebumps, because many of us were a little Argentine during the World Cup – how Messi connected a unique pass surrounded by four players from the Netherlands for Nahuel Molina to score in the quarter-finals . “Only he can do it,” he repeated over and over again, mixing passion with obsession. I found myself watching the play on loop messianic which he did to seal the victory against Croatia and thus qualification for the final.
He had never vibrated with a World Cup. And it’s a feeling I liked. Because Messi’s triumph is that of an entire generation of Blaugrana players. An unaccustomed generation, because with Messi everything was easier. For many, it is the triumph of nostalgia. I’m included. It is the triumph of that Barça that saw him grow up next to the eternal smile of Ronaldinho. Of that Barça that marveled with the brilliant 10 under the orders of Pep Guardiola. Also, of that Barça, different but lethal, of Luis Enrique’s trident. For the Argentinians it is the triumph of their country and, I hope, the end of the eternal (and tiredly absurd) debate of comparing him with Maradona. And for many Catalans orphaned by a team that represents us, it’s a triumph that we can make, even if it’s just a little, our own. We will always be indebted to him for giving us the best years of Barça. And football was in his debt because the greatest player of all time deserved a World Cup.
He had never vibrated with a World Cup. And it’s a feeling I liked. Because Messi won it.
