Here is my story and it only says a little: I am not a prostitute and I am not promiscuous either.
Buffon’s last Champions league match, probably…… choi, he did a Zidane
“It disappointed me to leave the boys with 10 men, but I said objectively, Real Madrid deserved the victory, we shake hands and move on. We will be furious when stepping on to the pitch in Serie A this weekend, furious” –Buffon
HOW IT ALL STARTED
Flashback to 2005, the very first time I watched Juventus play, fortunately in the champions league and rather unfortunately, they were knocked out by the ever gingered and rather motivated side; Liverpool. I saw the way the orchestrated there play as though from a sweet blend of strings, brass woodwind and percussion instruments that make up the orchestra. Their reaction, passion and emotions that filled the stadium was something I had never felt or experienced in the world of soccer. It was a match made by the gods to make me fall in love with white and black and my love for Turin was birthed.
Coincidentally, Nigerian Television Authority showed Serie A and Brazilian league games at the time, so I had reasons to stay connected to my new love; the Old Lady of Turin.
We had such a fantastic crop of players; Del Pierro, arguably my favorite Juventus player of all time, the immortal Buffon, Captain Cannavaro, the tank Thuram, Benzema-esque, Trezeguet, the volatile Zlatan, resilient Emmerson, handsome Camoranessi, the three Zs- Zambrota, Zebina and Zalayeta. Oh, how can I forget Neto Neto Nedved………it was a team made by the gods.
CATASTROPHY IN TURIN
So I watched the straight wins, the loss time goals, the derbies, the occasional penalties, sublime Zlatan goals and flicks, Pierro’s free kicks, Buffon’s outta the world saves and Nedved’s unbelievable shots. All these were later tagged “match fixing” by 2006.
Oh, what a devastating and disappointing moment as my heroes were tagged “criminals”. I was shocked and pained; that France coach - Deschamps or was it Capello? The gist is “we were banned to the life below”, points were removed and we were CONDENMED to Division 2……the Old Lady was relegated to Serie B.
THE GALACTICOS; MY PLEDGE
Since I couldn’t watch Serie B, I switched my allegiance to the only sane team in the world IMO-Real Madrid.
Why Real Madrid though?
Everyone knew Real Madrid and there was the Pepsi advert that included Raul, Beckham, Figo et. al on posters. Also, I was one of the people who played Roberto Carlos as a striker in PS1; that was insane and I glorified myself in the insanity even though it was for a while as I only played PS1 about 10 times. I lost my first game 8-1.
LIFE IN SERIE B
The bulk of Juventus players had left but I was still able to keep tabs on them with news on m.goal.com with my Nokia expressmusic. I also read complete sports every morning…..scratch the read part, what I meant was, I go to the vendor, tap people’s analysis and download it verbatim to my peers (you go think say I sabi ball). It worked, really worked that I was kowtowed by my peers. That was what I wanted and I got it……smiles.
While Juventus was performing extraordinarily in serie B, I was following La Liga closely, it was a close league and it had been a while since Real Madrid won the league. The Galacticos were stars but they just couldn’t win the league due to Barcelona’s dominance. I can still remember the last match of a particular season which was a decider of who would eventually win the league. My cousin (Tobi) and I watched the game VS Mallorca at the comfort of our home all thanks to AIT. Having heard that Barcelona won their match with the known and per functionary brilliance of Ronaldinho, Real Madrid’s was tenser to watch because our destiny lied in our hands. The match was tough and we couldn’t score but Beckham and Reyes would go on to score wonderful goals that won the match and as such the league. It was awesome…… I was a Galacticos.
THE RETURN OF THE KING
Then Juventus came back into the mainstream and then the worst happened; my attention was divided and I had to choose who to pledge my allegiance to once again. Of course, I chose Juventus; my first love, arguing that there is no big deal supporting a club in a different league. Conte reJUVEnated the team and the rest is history.
CONCLUSION
Whenever Juventus and Real Madrid meet, it’s always a bitter-sweet experience for me but Turin always has the better part of my heart.
So whenever I tell people, I’m a Juventus fan, they deem me promiscuous; it’s because you don’t know how it all started. Now that is my story and I hope you enjoyed every bit of it.
I am a die-hard fan of Real Madrid until they meet Juventus because that’s football and it is the game I bleed.
P.S
I love intelligently arrogant people and that’s why I make chant of words and ideologies of Mourinho, Zlatan, Cantona and a little bit of Maradona.
This piece was inspired from the turn of events after the Real Madrid VS Juventus game between my friends and I which Real Madrid won after a controversial penalty kick awarded them despite the wonderful comeback staged by Juventus.
I compiled this piece for a friend.
#toeney #wafrica #nigeria #football #mylove
