Thank you Leo🐐.

 

Year 2025, May 20. A sunny day in Barcelona, Spain. Cules all over the city, excited and anxiously waiting for their last La Liga match at Camp Nou for the season. Moreover, they all look sad. You don't know the reason yet.

The clock is spinning in circle, the time is coming. 1 more hour until the match starts. Barcelona is on the top with 5+ points, and no matter the result, they are Champions. 

The Camp Nou is filled to the limit. There is no more place. People are begging the guards to enter. There is hundreds of people outside. What's the reason? You don't know yet.

The line-ups are announced. Both of Barca and the other team. Messi is starting. He's in midfield. Leading it, like never before. He wants to give his best, but he looks confused. He is not running at all. He is sweating a lot, before the half-time even finished. It's half-time now.

More than 100,000 people chant Messi's name while he's in the locker room. They are roaring so loud, they're making waves of Messi's name. You could hear their roar all the way to Madrid. There's hundreds of people outside the stadium chanting his name as well.

Second half starts. Barcelona are comfortably leading. They are Champions. The fans are still chanting Messi's name. Why? Did he lost his form? Do they want him to score? No. If you could hear the fans one by one, everyone of them trembled. Their voices trembled.

10 minutes left, the fans still chanting Messi's name. The camera is focused only on him. Tears fall from his eyes. He tries to hold them, useless. He can't hold his emotions. In one moment, he stops on the pitch and looks around him. Looks at the 100,000 fans chanting his name. Looks around the packed Camp Nou. Looks at his fellow teammates. Looks at proud Pep Guardiola watching from the stands. What is crossing through his mind, who knows? He spent his lifetime here. At this club, with this fans, in this stadium, this atmosphere.

Do you realize why is he crying now? Do you know why are the fans chanting his name for 90 minutes? No, they're not tired at all. They would chant it for years from now, and never get tired. They are chanting the name of the Greatest footballer of all time. The little boy, who gave a new dimension to football, changed it's core. He made football better. He was an example to younger footballers, and everyone who loved to watch him.

It's 3 minutes of added time. Barcelona get free-kick opportunity in a dangerous position. Messi is near the ball, alone. He takes a few steps back. He's breathing slowly. There's nobody else who wants to score this goal more than him. He shoots, and he scores, just like he used to. The goalkeeper had no chance. He doesn't run and celebrate, he puts his hands in the air, and bows to the fans. The fans bow to him too. They are giving him the best farewell that he could ever imagine. The match is over.

Barcelona are La Liga Champions. Captain Messi is going to lift his last trophy in his career. The fans are all trembling. He should give a speech. But he is shaking. He has tears all over his face. The fans are still chanting his name: few minutes later, they stop. Messi finally speaks. He is speaking, and crying. He knows that this is probably the worst day in his career. He calms a bit, and keeps speaking. He can't thank enough. None of them. Nor the fans or the club. Neither they can thank him enough...

But this day had to come, everyone knew that. Some were prepared, and some not. What is good, is that people will talk about this great man for years to come. For eternity. This man changed football. He deserved the title 'GOAT'. He leaves us with good example. To stay humble and focus on your team. He never cared about individual awards, he wanted his team to win trophies. And he succeeded in that. He made Barcelona the club with most trophies in the history of football. That was his Greatness.

We will miss him, now and for a long time. But life goes on. We should be thankful that we lived in his era. In the era of Lionel Messi. The Greatest Footballer ever born. The Greatest that was, there is, and there will be...