Summer 1998.
A ten year old walked up to his nani and asked her if he can watch the final of a certain football World Cup. His nani gave a fleeting glace to her favourite drama, smiled and changed the channel. He didn’t know much about teams except that Brazil had won the most World Cups and there was a player named Ronaldo topping the charts.
The match proved to be quite one sided as Brazil lost 3–0 to France, courtesy a magician named Zidane. It was tragic for Brazil, but this was start of a 10-year-old’s long and emotional association with the game.
June 2002.
It’s been four years since that fateful night in Paris, thanks to video games, the now 14-year-old had been introduced to the world of club football. His best friend supported Manchester United, but this young boy’s fascination with Ronaldo continued; though he hardly saw him play.
The 2002 World Cup rolled around.
Ronaldo returned, Ronaldo played, Ronaldo conquered.
Brazil was playing their third consecutive final and Ronaldo had scored in every match barring the quarter final. Ronaldo was back and he was on the top of the world again. The young boy rejoiced his childhood hero’s accomplishments.
Now the young boy had started following Ronaldo’s career more proactively. One day, at his dentist’s clinic, he read in the newspaper that Ronaldo had moved to a club called Real Madrid. A quick search showed that they had a star-studded line up including the likes of Zidane, Raul, Figo and Roberto Carlos. It was like picking a dream team in video game. Over the next few years, he followed the club’s progress through Yahoo news and websites as Real Madrid struggled to win La Liga.
June 2006.
La Liga’s final day.
Back at nani’s house, this time he had to convince, bribe and threaten his cousins to let him watch the match. The winner was to be decided on the final day of the league. He had been following the team religiously — heck even playing fantasy football with them! Although they had sold his favourite player, Ronaldo, in winter transfer window but there was no way he could stop supporting this team — his team.
Barcelona went 3–0 up at half time, while Madrid was stuck at 1–1. Loanee player Reyes came on as substitute and scored twice.
The La Liga was home.
The following season was won comprehensively, though the rise of a certain Leo Messi meant that Madrid won’t see another title till 2012.
April 2014.
It had been 12 years since Zidane’s moment of brilliance. Madrid had been knocked out in the Round of 16 for six consecutive years. They had been losing semi-finals consecutively for the last three years. There was a Champions League specialist coach at the helm.
Real Madrid were facing Bayern Munich, one of the toughest teams around who were coached by their old nemesis Pep Guardiola. Tensions were high and the fear of another semifinal exit loomed.
That ten-year-old boy was sitting in Brooklyn, NY watching the match while playing with his 2-year-old baby cousin.
One-nil, two-nil, three-nil, four-nil…
They destroyed one of the best defences in the world to enter final for the first time in 12 years. For the first time, he was going to see his team play a final. They had been ridiculed a lot for their money, fame, obsession with buying the best players in the world and above all their failure to win the UEFA Champions League.
Final, Lisbon May 2014.
It literally went down the last minute. The clock ticked 92:48 when they equalised to push match into extra time. They added three more to bring the trophy back to Celebes, Madrid for nonstop all night celebrations.
June 2017.
Life has been good. They added another CL trophy in their cabinet in 2016 and the La Liga was the main priority as it had been 5 years since their last win.
They kept calm, rotated players and held on to win their first La Liga since 2012. Their record 33rd title was celebrated like anything but the season was not over.
They were in final of CL again, 3rd time in last four years. No team had won back to back titles for the last 27 years. The in-form Manchester United and Mighty Barcelona failed to defend their titles. Real Madrid had not won consecutive titles for the last 58 years. No team had won 2 consecutive UEFA Champions Leagues since the new format was introduced.
They were against a defence which had conceded 3 goals in entire campaign. The odds were stacked against them.
One-one, two-one, three-one, four-one…
History had been created. The team which had failed to go past the round of 16 for more than a decade had risen from the ashes and won a record 12th Champions League title.
The timid 10-year-old, now a confident 29-year-old, picked up his phone and called his nani, and talked of Ramazan and the weather, but what he really wanted to say was “Thank you, nano, for letting me watch the match back in 1998”. She probably didn’t even remember that, but he … he will never forget it.
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