It is said that a man played alongside the football legends Messi and Ronaldo, wore the shirts of the European giants Real Madrid, Juventus, Milan and Chelsea, scored more than 350 goals, and scored titles that all the buds of tomorrow dream of, but despite all that, he was one of the most unfortunate people on earth (1).

Perhaps this story will be told to future generations, about the cursed Argentina who lost Messi’s dream, and the man who did not manage to form a successful partnership with Ronaldo, and that fat overweight who wastes easy opportunities, and certainly, everyone will laugh if he is classified as one of the best strikers of his generation, as you transcend The laughs now after a quiet retirement took place in the shadows in very sad terms, just as the march of the man who led him for far less than he deserved, and which might have received a great deal of acclaim if it went as it is, a replica, save for one shot.

Shadow Curse

Gonzalo Higuain (European News Agency)

Everyone asks, what if Gonzalo Higuain scored his famous miss in the 2014 World Cup Final?

What if he did the same thing in the 2016 Copa America final?

Perhaps if this had happened to give Argentina two historic titles, but what would the same man's share of that pie become?

At least in the masses, he would not have obtained anything, and the reason is very simple, as he is not loved by any public sector that makes him a hero, even if he brings his country the World Cup.

If you do not believe this, let's play a game in which we go back to the past, which carries between its lines similar tales with a completely opposite ending, the irony is that the fate of its heroes is not much different from the fate of Higuain, although they brought glory and did not waste it.

In the 1986 World Cup, the final match was similar in both ends to the 2014 edition, Argentina against Germany in a historical epic that ended with the victory of the Tango with three goals for two goals, and a famous image in which Diego Armando Maradona holds the World Cup, and everyone carries him on their necks as the people’s champion (2).

But dear, hey, did you know that that hero did not score a single goal of the three goals that crowned his country in the World Cup, and that you need to use search engines to find out the names of the three goal scorers, because history did not make them heroes as he did with Diego?

It is true that Maradona scored the goal of the century and another with the “hand of God” and decided against England with an individual effort that the blind would deny, but this match was in the quarter-finals, but it imposed itself as the most famous World Cup match in its history, and many did not care about what happened in the final itself.

Why do they claim that he would have remembered Gonzalo if he had put the ball in the net? (3)

At Euro 2016, the unknown Eder awarded Portugal the first title in the country’s history with a special goal. History put the image of Cristiano Ronaldo crying while holding the cup as the hero of the people who gave glory to his country, even though he was injured and left at the beginning of the match, but for the story to become cinematic as the audience liked it, he gave credit to the Don because he shouted from outside the line, "Push, Eder!" (4)

This dark side of the game is called the "Shadow Curse", a curse that affects everyone who associates with one of the ball's geniuses, as history and the public block the spotlight from him, and give credit to those he loves, choosing shots that support the one hero's narrative, and overlooking the rest.

Unfortunately for Higuain, that wasn't the only dark side of his career.

A lost dream and an eternal nightmare

Messi and Gonzalo Higuain (European News Agency)

In 2014, Messi's dream of the World Cup was lost, but it was Higuain's dream as well, who cried of course as Leo cried that night, and he felt the same lump in the heart, and perhaps he saw her in his nightmares every night, and he is not alone, of course, history is full of heroes who failed in the last scene and were lost The dreams of their people and their masses, and with them their dreams as well, and of course none of them wished or intended that.

For example, there is the Brazilian goalkeeper Pipes Barbosa, who conceded two goals in the 1950 World Cup final against Uruguay, and who lived hated all his life because of a mistake he did not commit, according to his sad description of the story (5).

In the book "Life the Brazilian Way" by Alex Bellos, Barbosa tells that he has spent the rest of his life hated by his countrymen since that miserable night, and he also lived many harsh moments for the same reason, but the harshest for him was after the sad Maracana night by more than 30 years, when she pointed out A woman in a restaurant talking to her child, saying: This man made all Brazilians cry (6).

The most famous story in this context was the story of the Vatican wall on which was written, “God will forgive everyone except Baggio,” after the owner of the golden cavalry’s tail missed a penalty kick in the 1994 World Cup final, so that Brazil won the title and lost Italy, and the curse of that ball continues to chase Baggio until the end of his career. 7).

Perhaps we are not sure of the authenticity of the Vatican Wall novel, but it is certain that its content was a nightmare that haunted Baggio for years, the man considered by many to be the best player in the history of Italy at all. Sometimes!

Of course Baggio could have shot the ball better, and Barbosa could have saved at least one of the 1950 World Cup final goals, and of course they did it with high efficiency tens and hundreds of times throughout their career, but unfortunately luck was missed in the most important shot, which can turn a person's life into a double hell. , where the stigma of shame, and before it the loss of a dream that may have haunted each of them since his childhood, and it turned in the blink of an eye into a nightmare, and who among us did not dream in his childhood of leading his country to the World Cup?!

Ronaldo curse

Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain (European News Agency)

If playing next to Messi represented Higuain’s greatest nightmare, then the association with Ronaldo represented the longest-lasting nightmare for him, and the curse that refused to leave him until his career spoiled him twice, and made him enter into a state of frustration. Some mentioned that it reached the point of depression that actually ended his career before its true end In years, what luck is he who smiles in your face and then stabs you in the back, Gonzalo? (8)

Here we will return to a case that has been researched, but which needs to be revived again in this context.

Ronaldo and Benzema and the story of emptying the spaces again, the matter did not witness any dilemma throughout the years accompanying the Madeira missile to Benzema only, the problem was in the presence of a third element that seemed to be dispensed with for all parties. Years later, Juventus tried to reinvent the wheel by searching for any context that combines the Pepita with Cristiano, as if The story that made the Argentine striker leave the Royal Club in tears can suddenly succeed without changing the data (9).

At first, Real Madrid felt the need to search for a new Rooney to form a double with Ronaldo, with Benzema and Higuain alternating as the striker.

Not only that, but the royal team tried to use Wayne Rooney himself more than once, according to Ferguson, before his attempts failed, and he decided to search for the best available solutions according to his tools (10).

The solution here was in the search for the most willing to give up his luster in favor of Ronaldo, given that Jorge Valdano - Real Madrid's sporting director at the time - saw that the competition between them puts them under constant pressure, and accordingly, this partnership must be broken by giving up the least in line with Ronaldo Higuain was the victim, because he is always looking to score, and he is more individual and ambitious than Benzema, the French striker who found no objection to living in Ronaldo's shadow since then until the end of Cristiano's career with Real Madrid.

Over the years of Ronaldo’s glow and Higuain’s youth, the duo failed to merge into one entity, and the best solution to get the best product from each was to separate, and this is what Juventus learned when he signed Ronaldo, where he informed Pepita that he was out of accounts and had to look for another club Which is what happened with his departure to Milan on loan with the right to buy at the end of the season.

What was not considered is that Higuain will move between Milan and Chelsea and then return to the old lady again after failing to market him.

Remember that their differences occurred during Ronaldo's glowing years, not when he was 35.

A new stage of absurdity appeared in 2019, as Juventus signed Sari, who loves Higuain more than any other striker on earth, and tries against his will to get rid of Gonzalo because he cannot play next to Ronaldo, to raise another question about whether contracting with Cristiano is appropriate. For the Sarri project or not, then a third question about whether Juventus knew the identity of his next coach mainly when he contracted with Ronaldo or not, and whether the administration developed a plan to achieve the maximum possible benefit from Ronaldo on the field, or did contracting him go to the side of marketing, popularity, advertising, etc. just that?

An endless vortex of absurdities in Turin at that time(11).

The contract with Ronaldo was to inform Higuain that his trip in Turin was over, after two seasons in which he was the first star and top scorer of the team, and he decided the two consecutive league titles in light of real competition from Napoli after years of solo flight for Juve.

In the end, Higuain felt that he was expelled as he was expelled from Madrid despite everything he had done, to be psychologically affected and leave crying again, without being able to hide the state of depression that he had reached, before leaving the whole of Europe in search of a quieter journey in America in which he would restore his psychological peace before anything .

Fortuna

In ancient myths there is a fortuna;

The ancient Romans "goddess of fortune", the one they took as a symbol of the randomness of life, and printed her image on coins, where she holds in her right hand a goat horn as a symbol of her ability to give gifts, and in the left is a ship's rudder, an evil symbol of the ability to suddenly change fates without preludes or Reasons (12).

This was the initial explanation for them of the so-called "irony of fate", and that it is not a requirement to explain everything logically, and it is possible that the world does not do justice to those who deserve, and to its randomness those who do not deserve.

It is possible that the world will laugh at you and give you everything, and suddenly take it from you, as if you have never tasted bliss.

This may explain Higuain's career, as he joined Radamel Falcao in River Plate, but Fortuna smiled at him and moved to Real Madrid early, while Falcao was forced to a less glamorous march at the club level, but suddenly, Fortuna robbed him of everything, starting with the back injury that I wrote the beginning of the end for him with Real Madrid in 2010, after he was Mourinho's first man at the time, and then continued to rob his dreams with time in front of everyone's ridicule, and what dreams were taken from him whenever he glowed or came close to touching some glory! (13)

He continued to rob his dreams, and he is the historical top scorer in the Italian League in one season, and one of his best strikers ever in the current century, with 361 goals and 14 titles.

To say goodbye to football with a message that negative comments on social media are toxic, and made him suffer greatly, calling on the fans to think before attacking anyone, so that future generations do not suffer as he suffered amidst the laughter of cynics that does not stop despite its cruelty(14)(15) ).

Thus, Higuain’s life passed with forgotten achievements, and prominent black points, so that curses continued to haunt him without guilt at times, and with a sin he and others committed and carried its consequences alone at other times, until his achievements and creations got lost between curses, and one of the best attackers of his generation turned into a silly joke on the tongues of the masses, to bid farewell to the ball. The feet were crying, the same way he said goodbye to everything he loved, and he wished life had gone better.

It is pathetic that one shot would have turned everything, it would not have made him a popular hero because his likes are doomed to the curse of the shadow, but at least it would have spared him a great deal of suffering, or give him a dream that he carried in his heart as Messi carried him, so everyone pity about Leo's lost dream, Without realizing something very simple: Gonzalo has the same heart as Leo, even if he doesn't have the same magic.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Sources:

1 - Gonzalo Higuain's digital career 

2 - 2014 World Cup Final Summary 

3 - Summary of the 1986 World Cup Final 

4 - Euro 2016 final summary 

5 - Barbosa Pipes.. The man who cried Brazil 

6 - The Brazilian Life Book - Alex Bellos 

7 - “God will not forgive Roberto Baggio.” The story of the most famous prayer in the history of the World Cup

8 - Higuain collapsed from Juventus pushing him towards Milan - The Guardian 

9 - Sari against Ronaldo .. Because the body is ruthless - Maidan 

10 - previous source

11 - Juventus sign Maurizio Sarri in the summer of 2019 

12 - The story of the legend of Fortuna 

13 - Higuain admits he cried the night he left Real Madrid 

14 - Gonzalo Higuain Record Numbers 

15 - Higuain's farewell message to football the night he retired