The magical night of the champions and the 800th goal of a Messi who is already a legend: the story of another unforgettable party

There are millions of Argentines who make up a generation that, for many years, has not been linked to the national team. Who lived on anecdotes of parents, grandparents and uncles who convinced them that “everything in the past was better”, who consumed hours and hours of these new ways of communicating where they were mercilessly criticized, where even the intentions of some players were questioned . when they wore the shirt of the albiceleste. All that he left: the party of the world champion team at the Monumental stadium has come to deliver a new champion of ‘argentinity’what we sometimes brag about and other times we prefer not to reflect ourselves.

Because passion must not try to explain or analyze, football is a mass phenomenon. Life passes through us on a daily basis, our state of mind often depends on the result of our team. Suffice it to recall the streets of the City of Buenos Aires flooded with people on December 20 or the miracle it meant having had the privilege among more than 2 million people to get one of 63,000 tickets which were put up for sale to watch the match against Panama.

Without fear of error, there was a large percentage of those who were this Thursday at the Monumental They had their baptism in a national team match and even in a football match of any genre. As happened in 1978, covering the darkest period of our country, or in 1986, the title in Qatar 2022 served to distance oneself from reality. Or don’t make us think, at least. There is no crack that is worth it.

The shiver that runs through the skin when they do eleven boys running after a ball excite and celebrate everyone: there is no gender, there is no age, there is no political color, there is nothing else.

And if those thousands of boys and girls don’t tell us (yes, because there were thousands in proportion of 1 or 2 for each adult) who endured almost six hours of waiting before the entrances opened in intense heat and humidity, even causing some small health problems. Everyone, absolutely everyone, had an Argentina national team shirt, and there was no need to dwell on whether they had two or three stars, but rather on their backs.

Messi prevailed, Di María followed him and De Paul and Julián Álvarez also repeated a lot. Attention, it was not only albiceleste, but also some green or red stood out in honor of ‘Dibu’ Martínez, one of the most applauded of the evening.

After avoiding the control circuits and under a massive police operation, fathers and mothers hand in hand explained to their children where they had to enter, what they would see. “Where is the courthouse?”a little boy no more than five years old asked his father, without realizing that he was only 50 meters from the Monument. “It’s all of this, inside is the field where they play”the man answered, didactically.

But all of that happiness and illusion in contrast to another image, which unfortunately was repeated a lot during the unforgettable day of the Monumentale. You had to go through the turnstiles that validated the tickets, three in different sectors of the way to the grandstand. And when we talk about those situations where we prefer not to reflect on ourselves as Argentines, we are referring to this: despite previous warnings, many purchased tickets which were not officialfor the hope and emotion that being able to be present aroused in them.

And those children with their dreams on their shoulders, changed into a total disappointment. Tears were instantaneous when the employee on duty announced it their tickets were “real”. This is what happened to the first family (father, mother and two girls under the age of 15) who crossed the security fence and showed their entrance: bounces and a heartbreaking cry from the youngest, who had to come out with his head bowed. There is no explanation for that either..

Those who were drawing levels even celebrated it. Some were encouraged to dance like ‘Dibu’ in the warm-up, with his iconic celebration following France’s Aurélien Tchouaméni’s penalty miss in the shoot-out at Lusail Stadium.

“I just want to see Messi, I traveled from Río Negro after my parents got the tickets. An hour and 13 minutes by plane and three taxis to get here”explained Santiago, with surgical precision despite his 10 years.

The entrance to the Monumental was agile. Inside, the party was already set up with DJ Fer Palacio – the one chosen by the world champions – who played music that left no room for boredom. Before each song ‘field’, the audience played him and the skin shivered again.

It was all timed and well driven Sergio Goycoechea, another who aroused fanaticism in his days spent as goalkeeper for the national team and who didn’t want to miss the party, like several champions of ’78 and ’86, who received the players at the locker room door. Obviously, to avoid repeating the scenes of last December, a post-lunch transfer operation was set up at Ezeiza’s property and in separate vans, so that the players could rest in the concentration of the River the hours before the duel.

The Totora, The T and the M, Tula with its bass drum and Fernando Romero -the author of the hit ‘Muchachos’ which resounded again and again in the stands of the Monumental- were the ideal prelude. The first outburst came with the appearance on the screen of football players walking into the ring of the stadium, and lasted until the moment when by Paul AND Walls they came out to satisfy their habit of eating marshmallows in the center circle. The third musketeer was Alejandro Papu Gomezabsent due to injury.

Although you have experienced it many times, it is even difficult to put into words what the Argentine national anthem causes then on a football field and in a match of the Argentine national team. Here because the tears of Dibu Martínez stretched mucus, the glassy emotion of Messi and the smile while contemplating the panorama by Alexis Mac Allisterkeeping it deep in my heart.

Yes, there was a game in between but the countless goal possibilities that Scaloneta accumulated up to the relief with a volley from Thiago Almada; or the postponement of the harsh and wordy Panama, which was the only thing that exasperated the audience.

The icing on the cake was put by the King, the Flea, Leo or whatever you want to call him: on his sixth free-kick attempt – he had nailed two of them to the posts – he hung her at an angle and made her fall the idyll is even strongerarms wave in praise with the famous “Messi, Messi” (with the e outstretched) and the celebration is completed with the 800th goal of his pro career.

The 35-year-old from Rosario took the microphone and proved to be a good leader: He asked to remember all those who tried alongside him and were so close to winning the World Cup and the Copa América before this golden age..

the goal has been achieved. To enjoy a celebration that has waited 36 years to see the World Cup rise again and hopefully future generations won’t have to keep repeating that ‘every time in the past was better’.