While watching the Barcelona – Arsenal game yesterday I realized how cruel love could be, even on a football pitch. On one side you had Thierry Henry, a former Gunner, playing for Barcelona. On the other side of the field you had Cesc Fabregas, a former Barcelona protégé, doing the same for Arsenal. Both players ended their long-standing relationships with their favorite teams in order to advance their careers. As can be expected, such difficult decisions often result in unintended consequences. In their case, they were forced to play their old clubs.
In the case of Thierry Henry, he is nothing short of a living legend to Gunners fans. The thirty-two year old spent the better part of his career at Highbury carving apart Premier League teams on his way to becoming Arsenal’s all-time leading goal scorer. It was at Arsenal that Thierry would fulfill his potential under the careful tutelage of Arsene Wenger. When the time came to leave Arsenal, Thierry said it was one of the most heart wrenching decisions of his life. On one hand, he had an unwavering bond with the team; on the other hand, there was a gaping hole in his football resume that he longed to fill. Leaving for Barcelona gave him a great opportunity to finally achieve that one elusive accomplishment, a Champions League Winners’ Medal.
On the other side of the equation stands the young phenom, Cesc Fabregas. Now, at twenty-two years of age, he is six years removed from making the most critical decision of his professional life. At the tender age of sixteen, Cesc decided to leave the youth system of his boyhood team for a place in the first team at Arsenal. It would prove to be a tough decision for anyone, let alone a teenager. Not many people have the courage to pick up and go to a foreign country, leaving family and friends behind for the chance to fulfill a dream. At his age, he has amassed years of experience playing top-flight football that most men ten years his senior can only dream of. Unfortunately for him, he had to do it the hard way, leaving behind all that he cherished for a shot at stardom.
Watching these two stars play yesterday provided some prospective. As fans, we watch games. We critique player actions. We dissect their every move and we make illogical inferences about what this or that movement or action meant. We assume we know what these players go through and how much they care, but in reality we know very little. We barely know who they are when they are on the pitch and we know even less about them when they are off it.
Due to the wealth and fame associated with being a football star, it is easy for fans to disregard the human element of their daily lives. But like the rest of us, they are forced to make hard choices and live with the consequences. It was apparent in the build up to the match that it was hard for both players to face clubs that they hold in such high esteem. Thierry practically made it sound as if he would have to think twice about not scoring an own goal. Cesc, on the other hand, was relishing the prospect of playing his old club and having a mini-homecoming in the return leg at Camp Nou, something he didn’t get to do in the 2006 Champions League Final in Paris. Unfortunately for him, he won’t get to fulfill that dream since he was booked and is ineligible to play in the return leg.
In football, where players are often viewed as cold-hearted mercenaries, it is refreshing to see that a real bond can actually exist between a team and a player, even after they have left. It’s been said that when people break-up and go their separate ways, that they leave a piece of themselves behind. For one night, these two players let it all hang out and allowed us to see them as more than just footballers.
