This is a thread on my experience at the Camp Nou yesterday. Everything, from my interaction with the locals to my thoughts on the game, and a lot of self reflection as well. Hope you enjoy (because I did):

And I’ll always, always regret not having been able to watch him play in the flesh at the peak of his powers. Thanks for showing us the truth, Leo.

I’ll be forever grateful for being born at the right time to witness Messi’s whole career, and allowing myself to do so without any bitterness.

No need for evidence, no room for debate. The theory has been proven, scientific fact, absolute truth. Lionel Messi is football.

Pragmatism (sadly) rules in international football. Big man up front, pacy wingers, big men in midfield & centre backs who head everything away is all you need.

Morocco’s coach is a huge managerial talent who’s being wasted by being restricted to national team football. He should take a job at a big 5 league while keeping his current job.

With Giroud: - Euro 2016 finalists - 2018 World Cup winners - 2022 World Cup finalists With Benzema: - 2014 World Cup quarterfinal exit - Euro 2020 round of 16 exit

The disrespect on Otamendi’s name is incredible. By far the best defender of the tournament, yet he’s barely included in the conversation.

Few things in life have made me feel the tragedy that is the passing of time like Messi at this World Cup. It’s over, man. It’s his last one, he’s said so himself. There’s nothing left after this. We’ll never see anything like this ever again.

Don’t ever sub Messi off, let him walk around the pitch, let him sit on the grass if he wants to. Every touch of his is sacred, every second that passes is one second closer to the end of his career.

Julian Alvarez workrate is incredible, he’s an absolute pest for defenders. Graduated with honours from the Suarez & Vardy School of Dog.

Choose happiness over denial, people! It’s never too late!

Imagine actively liking Messi, investing your time and energy watching him play, enjoying every second of it. What a joyful existence.

Imagine actively disliking Messi, wasting your time and energy attacking him, missing out on so much joy. What a miserable existence.

The whole footballing world should stop as a way of protesting against this tragedy. The horror goes beyond words, it’s absolutely sickening.

The “you have to respect other countries’ cultures” narrative is bullshit because said cultures are always archaic and either target minorities with sexist & homophobic laws, or downright murder dissidents.

Of course this doesn’t always happen, but a simple Twitter search will show you a huge % of Ronaldo fans also look up to these very rigid, aggressive characters who spread dangerous messages, and as a result, you not only have 14 year-olds repeating them, but fully grown men too.

Problem is, once you decide to mould yourself around Ronaldo, you indirectly enter the culture of like-minded, egotistical individuals. So now you not only look up to an egomaniac like Ronaldo, but also to a misogynist like Andrew Tate or a far-right nutjob like Jordan Peterson.

I think fanboying is a natural period in life. Once you reach a certain age (13-14), it’s natural to start questioning your traditional role models (parents, siblings) and trying to find new ones. Who better than a successful, rich, physically flawless man to look up to, right?

Now that Ronaldo is done, I hope the generation of aggressive, misogynistic fanboys he bred finally moves on with their lives instead of wasting their time defending a man who’ll never acknowledge their existence.

Time should make an exception for Messi. Argentinians are going through their worst ever economic crisis, yet they’re endebting themselves for years to fight against the tragedy that is the passing of time, and the fear of knowing no one will ever come close.