There was something of the heist movie about it, the story taking shape one man at a time, like the opening scenes from a film. First Andrés Iniesta announced he was leaving Japan. Then Sergio Busquets bade farewell to Barcelona. The next day, so did Jordi Alba. That afternoon the Paris Saint-Germain head coach, Christophe Galtier, confirmed Lionel Messi was going. All in quick succession. It was easy to imagine a plot being hatched, to hear the deep voice of the Hollywood trailer: they had been the best; now the old gang was getting back together for one last job.
These are not just former teammates, who produced arguably the finest football seen; they're best mates too, people Busquets says share "the same culture, the same jokes, the same upbringing". At Busquets's goodbye at the Camp Nou on Thursday, Messi signed off his video message with an "I love you", while Busquets describes the Argentinian not only as the "best player of all time" but the pair of them as "personalities that fit, who trust each other". Iniesta refers to Busquets as a "brother". And Busquets, asked which player he could most confide in over the years, who's the funniest and who the grumpiest, cracks up when the answer to all three is Alba.
Sorted, then. All it needs is a name, this crime caper. Busquets laughs. "Nah," he protests, smile stretching across his face. "I still don't have plans. I do have three or four options but nothing is done. I don't want to play for any European team: it would be hard to face Barcelona with anything serious in play, and I want to live a calmer, more relaxed experience. I would like things to get sorted quickly over the next two or three weeks. The decision will be mine and my family's, just ours. All of us have decisions to make and maybe we will coincide, but there's no plan."
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 06, 2023 من The Guardian.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 06, 2023 من The Guardian.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Ruined town re-emerges as Philippines dam dries up
Ruins of a centuries-old town have emerged at a dam parched by drought in the northern Philippines.
"This was a crisis': Hope Hicks tells of panic over Trump recording at hush money trial
Hope Hicks, Donald Trump's 2016 campaign secretary, described the former US president's staffers' panic when a recording emerged in which he had bragged about groping women, saying \"this was a crisis\" for his presidential campaign, as she took the witness stand yesterday in Trump's criminal hush money trial.
'Jews need to fight back' Shock and sadness in Israel at overseas protests
At the Jerusalem theatre, concertgoers and staff expressed a mixture of anger, sadness and defiance as weeks of proPalestinian protests across dozens of US college campuses reached a tumultuous climax 6,000 miles away.
Tenants should be given the 'right to garden', says leading horticulturalist
Developers and landlords should give tenants a \"right to garden\", a leading horticulturalist has said, as part of a campaign for more green spaces in new-build homes.
Last rites? Decline in vulture numbers forces Parsis to adapt burial practices
Traditional Zoroastrian burial rites are becoming impossible to perform because of the decline of vultures in India, Iran and Pakistan.
In Plato's words How AI is helping to reveal the secrets of ancient scrolls
More than 2,000 years after he died, Plato, the towering figure of classical antiquity and founder of the Academy, still makes the news.
Boy convicted of murder after stabbing near primary school
A 15-year-old boy who stabbed another teenager through the heart on the way home from school was found guilty of murder yesterday.
Super-rich spending up to £400,000 on Paris Olympics packages
Members of the global super-rich are spending as much as $500,000 (£400,000) on \"ultra exclusive\" packages for the Paris 2024 Olympics that promoters claim include meeting athletes, access to the athletes' village, and \"the chance to be part of the opening ceremony\".
Boost for travel agents as Race Across the World grips viewers
No celebrities, no luxuries, and a miserly £20,000 in prize money.
Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters becomes latest film to bring in cultural consultants
Film and TV productions are turning to a growing number of \"cultural consultants\" to help them navigate the choppy waters of sensitivities around ethnicity and faith.