The Guépards are at the Obelisk. Not in game outfits. Tracksuit. Sitting on the steps, standing, hanging arms, one making the V, another laughing. Behind, Buenos Aires and his totem. This is the kind of photo that all delegations make when they arrive. Except this one has a different weight. This is the first time Benin has laid there, a few hours away from playing Argentina at the Monumental, for the last Messi at home.
We feel on the faces the guys figured out where they are. There's no tension. There's pride;And then there are the other pictures. The hotel;Ángel Di María coming in. Not for a com operation. He came with his own people, Rosario Central's band, his club forever. Blue and yellow jersey, red suit, the same smiles as Beninese. They mix. They pose together as if it were one locker room. It's brotherly. It's simple.
You have to measure what that means. Di María, world champion, Messi's best friend on a field, who takes the time to come and greet the Guépards on the eve of the Der. It's not trivial. It's a form of respect. Thank you too. Thanks for coming. Thank you for agreeing to be the opponent of this game that Argentina is going to watch.
For Benin, it's huge. We're talking about a game that will be taken over by Team Marca, BBC, BeIN, TyC Sports. Never a Guépard match had such a sound box. And these pictures with Di María, they're going to shoot everywhere.
Tuesday at zero hour, Cotonou time, the ball will run at Monumental. Messi will play his last game in front of his people. In the opposite direction, Benin will be present.
And these photos of the Obelisk and the hotel already tell us one thing. The Guépards didn't come to figure it out. They came to share the legend.
