Rodri is not Miguel Induráin and in football only the Spaniards on my team make history | Relief

Manolo Saiz, the legendary director of ONCE, used to complain about the great distance between his team and the average Spanish fan. After all, ONCE was Miguel Induráin’s great enemy and Miguel Induráin was his great idol. No one wanted Navarrese to lose and if that meant, as Saiz said, we saw ONE “foreign team”, then welcome back. Our sympathy was well defined and it was difficult to understand that cheering for Zülle or Jalabert was the same as cheering for Miguelón. Almost impossible.

In football, however, things are different. What we saw this Monday was very tiring, both in the media and on social networks. More than anything because, my friends, the Ballon d’Or is a popular competition, a prize that is voted on without clear boundaries and that shouldn’t matter to anyone. Not enough to declare war on France or to feel that he had lost his own son, of course. Do you want objective titles? The competitions are there. Some win Euro Cups, others win Champions Leagues and, in general, we all come up with five or six names that are so good they could win any award of that kind. earn this.

The strange thing is how people lived in Spain and, for a moment, I remembered a lot about Manolo Saiz. That dispute between the Spanish athlete –Rodri– and the foreigner, but who competes for the Spanish team – Vinicius – that flooded any discussion with fandom, anger and cheap revenge. Since morals make me very sick, I won’t go into that question: He who defends his team does as well as he who defends his nationality. Would I like to continue the other coordinate football discussion? Yes, but it’s football. You can’t ask for more. If he were not passionate and irrational, he would not move everything he moves.

If something What I didn’t like was that the focus was where it shouldn’t be, that is, on the loser. For better or worse, Vinicius became the main character on a night that did not belong to him. Brazil’s defenders – and he deserves defenders because he is a great footballer – cried to the heavens, tore their clothes, appealed to a dark conspiracy and put on the their Real Madrid scarves to emphasize the importance of the trophy that their players have won several times. there were.

For their part, the detractors had no mercy: Vinicius was a bad loser, an arrogant man, his team had disrespected the world of football… that was unpleasant. As if there wasn’t enough circus around the award for months and a new fire of mystery had to be lit.

“Our Choice” and “Yours”

Because the truth is that Rodri won. And Aitana Bonmatí won. And it has been 64 years since a Spaniard won the men’s cup, succeeding Luis Suárez, who died just over a year ago. Beyond the surface nature of the cup, there is a sporting recognition of the moment our football or at least, if you like, our national teams are experiencing. I think so there is a reasonable reason to rejoice and not to go around retrieving past woundsas when Iniesta and

If that had an unfair point – within, I insist, how unfair a popular contest can be -, It is good that this injustice has been corrected. If any culé was happy that the Argentine won for some special insult to the Spanish team, now is not the time to go around remembering. Anyone who is angry that Vinicius was not recognized as the best player of the year has every right in the world to do so, but it would be nice if the media would at least put some order in the debate : first, the first. . and then, everything else.

Which brings us a bit to the beginning of the article: Rodri’s problem is that he is not Induráin… because, in football, it is impossible for Induráin to exist.. Everything is influenced by the passion of the clubs and not by nationality. Of course there is a common joy when the national team wins, that’s why racists don’t insult Lamine Yamal when he wears red, but they insult him when he ‘ wearing the colors of Barcelona. But, Oh, we think that “our team” more or less corresponds to the players on our team. and, above all, those from the competitor.

Because, of course, it is a game that works against each other. The Madridistas did not like Luis Enrique because he did not bring players from their team – recently, Luis de la Fuente had a starting eleven without a single player from Madrid, Barcelona or Atleti – but because, in their opinion , it took too much. the players of the eternal rival. Here, in which there is nothing more than recognizing an excellent player on an excellent team and who leads an excellent team, knowledge is a loss. They have not given it to me.

And so, for a moment, an ONCE victory, be it Zülle or Jalabert or Dufaux or Bruyneel or even the blond Neil Stephens, would be better than a Spanish victory, just because we don’t like the Spanish very much or we don’t we don’t like them. do not think about our tribe. Which, I insist, doesn’t seem immoral to me at all because I was one of those poor people who went with Federer when he was systematically losing to Nadal, but while we accepted the case. Because without loss there is no victory. And without victory, in the end, there is no fun.