Football opens doors and changes realities of life. Nicolás Giménez, the one who had a great step in 2019 through Arsenal de Sarandí, and who made the Inferiors in Chicago, today steps on one of the richest soils in the world: the United Arab Emirates. Two seasons ago, the 26-year-old hitch is part of FC Baniyas, where he is a figure and changed the history of the club. “Here the sheikhs treat me like a God,” he says in a conversation with Ole. The ball made him go from taking the 126 at the San Justo roundabout to living an hour from Qatar and being like a tour guide for Argentines who are about to travel to the World Cup…
-And what do you recommend to those who go to the cup?
-I tell the Argentine that in Qatar pay close attention to the things you buy. They use a lot of spice and even the noodles already come with seasoning. Also, don’t send any of them, because the security guards here won’t forgive you, and if they have to deport you, they will. We will have to respect them with their traditions. They come to the first world, a country that will be a world power. He is very young, yes. The hotels are going to be exploited and they will have to find places elsewhere. The courts are all connected by trains. Many are going to stay in Abu Dhabi. Even people from Chicago talked to me to come here. It will be one of the most beautiful World Cups, and on top of that, Leo’s last.
Nicolás Giménez is the 10 of the Arab Baniyas. Photo: Baniyas Press
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-There is a lot of talk about Leo in Qatar, right?
-Messi is loved again here and in the United Arab Emirates. They go crazy to see it. Moreover, I understand that the National Team may stay in Abu Dhabi, and here it is full of Argentines. It’s going to be crazy.
-And you?
-I am a fan of Messi, and of this National Team. I hope I can go see it because I’m very close.
-It must be nice to be an hour away from the World Cup…
-Yes, no way. The fields are being finished now, but Qatar has luxuries everywhere. They are preparing because they want the whole world to see how fast their country is growing. It is incredible to see that in one week there is nothing, and you come back the next and they have already raised you a 5-star hotel. When I look around me she asked me what I’m doing here. After Arsenal, I went back to Talleres and had calls from the big five in Argentina. But only here could they pay what they wanted in Córdoba.
-And how do they live football?
-Soccer is passionate as in Argentina. The only thing I notice is that I get angry if I don’t train well one day and they take it more relaxed. Sometimes they train very well, and the next day they come back tired, they don’t feel like training and they don’t. That yes, later they play the date and they do it very well. They don’t ask foreigners for anything, we have a lot of freedom, but you have to justify your purchase.
-Football suffers from some tradition?
-Here they have another job which is to go to military service. Around there two months disappear and you wonder where such a companion is, and it is that they took him to what they call “Army”. It doesn’t matter that he is the figure. The Emiratis yes or yes they have to do that. Last year we were fighting for the tournament, and they took us out at 4 and to the end, and we had no replacement…
-Culturally, what do you dislike?
-It seems strange to me to be sitting on the floor eating fish or camel with rice, but with your hand, on a one and a half meter plate. They threw food at you just like that. It is his culture and I tried to find a way around it. And they wouldn’t let me use a knife and fork. But then they are open. They even drink mate. From Argentina I had to bring a suitcase full of mates for the sheikhs. Whoever comes here to sell mate, he gets rich, ha.
-And how is your old man’s workshop where you worked as a boy?
-Still the same. My old man does not like to change it, nor does he want to paint it. He likes to have things like this, as usual. Once he came here and he was sent alone by taxi, without knowing English, and without a cell phone. We went to look for him at the Argentine embassy because he was headstrong, ha.
-Do you miss a lot?
-I’m holding on because my girlfriend came. But I felt more alone in Córdoba than in the Emirates, because I was very young and Talleres was away from home for the first time.
Nicolás Giménez and his family in the United Arab Emirates. Photo: Instagram
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-There you should be pampered…
-Yes, obviously, the sheikhs and my colleagues too. One day, one of the staff who has a beautiful sports Porsche, told me that if we lowered the pointer, he would lend it to me. We won by a landslide and I left with a spaceship from the stadium. This is how everything lives here. It’s crazy.
-What were the sheiks lazy?
– Rondina is missing here so she can slap you when you’re sick, ha. Oh, and also the props, I would also bring them from Argentina.
