Unzué shakes the Camp Nou with a powerful message of solidarity

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His body has been treacherously shrinking for more than two years. His hands are stiff and weak, strong and powerful as they were in his day. And his feet no longer obey him as before. But his head is going a thousand miles an hour, with an amazing vitality that spread to an excited Camp Nou. Old as the stadium is, already in full retirement age, about to be overthrown, he began to cry, although, as he likes it, he had a blast, even doing the wave.

The Camp Nou cried to tears alive, moved by the speech of Juan Carlos Unzue, sick with ALS, captain of the ALS team, dressed in green, green hope, able to gather more than 91,062 people in the Barça temple. They all walked in procession towards the culé home, feeling like witnesses of a night they will never forget. And that the ball had not even started to roll.

Ovation for Haaland

It was not necessary on a night that ended in a draw (3-3, goals from Aubameyang, Frenkie de Jong and Memphis for the azulgranas and Julián Álvarez, Cole Palmer and Mahrez, from a penalty, already in added time for citizens).

With Haaland appearing in the second half, cheered by the stadium, even in the warm-up. They scored the two strikers that Barça does not want, while the stadium cried out for Lewandowski. But the Pole did not leave the bench. Not Pedro. Neither Dembele.

Football was not the main argument, despite the fact that Barça, a symbol of old football, an institution with almost 125 years of life, and City, the face of the new order that this sport projects, met to spread a powerful message of solidarity.

The night was summer. Full of the traditional Barcelona embarrassment, with that humidity that seeps through the pores. But Juan Carlos grabbed the microphone and silence suddenly ripped through the stadium.

“I want to tell you that the members of the ELA team tell you that we want to continue living and enjoying life”

Juan Carlos Unzue

“I want to tell you that the members of the ELA team tell you that we want to continue living and enjoying life,” said the exporter from Barça, Osasuna and Seville, among other clubs, with infinite optimism.

Sitting in that wheelchair that he drives quickly, with the Barça eleven behind him, full of substitutes (Piqué and Alba) and the English eleven. He thanked Juan Carlos before “the commitment and sensitivity” of both clubs. He was right.

The leader Juan Carlos

Many months ago, almost a year and a half, he first sent a message to his friends Pep Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain. “Wherever you want! Whenever you want!” They both answered. Barça’s door was already wide open thanks to the extreme generosity of Joan Laporta.

After the game was delayed last summer due to the pandemic, the stadium hosted, and without setting a precedent, three teams: the azulgranas who were not such because they premiered the third shirt with the Creu de Sant Jordi under a light gray background. The target? As Cruyff would say, “white is not from this club”.

City wore a kit – garish yellow and sober black – that looked like Dortmund. But everything was dominated by the green of the ALS team.

Juan Carlos, excited as he was, immersed in a whirlwind of feelings, transformed into the natural, spontaneous, authentic and close leader of his new colleagues, took the opportunity to end with a totally vindictive message.

“We need the ELA law to be unblocked and processed now. There is no time to lose”

Juan Carlos Unzue

They want to continue living, Unzué shouted on behalf of all his sick male and female companions, but in decent conditions. “For that we need the ELA law to be unblocked and processed now,” she exclaimed, addressing the politicians. The ones she didn’t mention. It wasn’t necessary either, “There’s no time to waste,” she shrieked afterwards.

On the bench with Pep and Xavi

Time is running against him. And those friends whom Juan Carlos has made extraordinarily visible, to the point that one night in August in Barcelona became a showcase to show the world – up to 140 countries broadcast the game live – the need to investigate to combat the devastating ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A disease without a cure.

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Neither cure nor research and each day that passes is one day less because your body is wasting away in front of you. For Juan Carlos, who took the kick-off with his right foot, there isn’t a minute that isn’t worth it. Last night, he made thousands and thousands of people happy who attended a game never seen before in this stadium filled with emotion.

Xavidressed in a black polo shirt, and Guardiolawhite and summer shirt, were standing watching the match (it ended in a draw, both protected by the eternal smile of Juan Carlos. In the first half, to Pep’s left, on the City bench. Then, he was on the bench , located to the right of Xavi, because it wasn’t the entertaining and refreshing game that shook the Camp Nou, but an indestructible message of hope and joy in life, even if it slips away.



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