The kid stared at the band because he couldn’t believe it. He had just untangled that infamous game by manufacturing a penalty where before there was only air and just then that crazy old man decided to change him. Look at him, taking notes under that green umbrella like a jerk! The goal was not enough to overcome the tie against him Partizan, which came from breech after the 4-2 in the first leg, but the miracle was approaching. Already on the lime line, in front of the bench, in the area that the indiscreet objectives of the cameras look for by default, the boy exploded in insults against the mister. He denied the boss the greeting and the other, not least, responded by slamming the umbrella against the ground until it broke in two. The image illustrated the criticism in the newspapers for days.
The game ended in disaster, but the boy’s scars healed instantly. Two weeks later the league returned to the same stadium that had loathed it for its disdain for the coach and put him on his feet with an impressive double. Until then he had not justified the death they would have paid for him and had been more news for his cheeks and his rudeness than for his goals. It turns out that one of the club’s traditions forced the players to go around the stadium to applaud the fans when the occasion deserved it and in those it was Lewis, preparing for the walk, when the coach approached him with two unexpected gifts. In the gesture a conciliatory smile and in his hand a green umbrella with which the young man turned in front of the stadium delivered. He never stopped dialing again.
By now in the column, you’ve all guessed that the grumpy boy in the anecdote is Luis Suarez and that the old man with the green umbrella is Ron Jans, a classic of the Dutch benches that then tried to tame him in the Groningen. Fifteen years have passed since that, but the essence of the Uruguayan has not changed: a wild spirit and an innate quality to turn that internal fire into football of a superior quality. Where the legs falter, the spirit and deep knowledge of the game appear. That is why, at 34, his football is as valid as it was on the night of the umbrella.
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