Enzo Fernández to letter to Lionel Messi:
“Leo, when you announced all those years ago that you were leaving the National Team, I was devastated.
I was only a kid, and I used to calculate your age and mine to see if there was any chance I could one day play alongside you. It sounds silly, but I really did it. I’d think about how many years you might have left, how long it would take me to reach the first team, and I’d dream that somehow, even just once, we could share the pitch wearing the Argentina shirt.
Thankfully, you came back. And life ended up giving me far more than that kid could ever have imagined.
I didn’t just get the chance to play with you. We shared training camps, locker rooms, conversations, hugs, difficult moments, unforgettable moments… and somehow, we ended up becoming world champions together.
But more than anything, I’ll always be grateful for the way you treated me from the moment I arrived. I came into the team dreaming of sharing the pitch with my idol, but instead I found someone who immediately made me feel like I belonged.
You always had a few words for me, a piece of advice, a hug, or simply that way of making me feel calm whenever I needed it.
I’ll never forget that.
Now, it’s hard to imagine the next training camp without you. Walking onto the pitch and not seeing you there ahead of us, wearing the number 10. After spending so many years watching you in that shirt, it almost feels impossible to picture Argentina any other way.
How lucky I was, Leo.
How lucky that little kid was, doing all those calculations without even knowing if he would make it in time.
Thank you for the way you treated me, for everything you taught me, and for allowing me to share even a small part of your story.
We’re going to miss you so much, captain.”
Fuck Egypt and fuck every performative activist who turned Messi’s last WC into something so fucking ugly. Every bit of suffering you endure will only add to my enjoyment.
Tremenda la escena ahora mismo en el Camp Nou. Cánticos a favor del Barça. Los jugadores aguantan, mientras que Carles Naval, delegado, sigue con palmas el ritmo de la Grada d’Animació.
🤝
Tearfully waving out the train window as my girlfriend runs alongside
*45 minutes later*
She's still keeping pace. It's inhuman. Everyone on the train is screaming. I'm begging her to stop but she can't hear me. Her eyes are pure white. Police helicopters circle overhead