Three missed left turns and 40 doors down the colored peach wall at Les Corts Cemetery I see a street in the northwest direction. I take it.
To my right is Parc Sentient de Barcelona. Boring vans, hatchbacks, cleaner garbage containers and trees are being ordered as removed from the dreams of Salvador Dali.
As I walk down this street (No. 8028 on my tourist map), a vision fills my eye with the sound of the wings. I think this is one of those elusive streets where they take off the strangest ideas, such as empty chips, wind-chips, and random passers-by. I know that as soon as I turn around the corner, I will immediately forget what I`ve been thinking about. It`s just one of those streets.
I look at my tourist map. A sharp turn to the right of here and the outline of Camp Nou`s crown should be in my sight.
Roads to historic sites are sprawled and sealed with asphalt. Some of them still have paving stones. The magic of these places is hidden in their names;names, meaningful ideas upon which they cherish and, sometimes, even empires are built. Their magic is stronger when the bearers of these names have wandered through these streets long before they have taken their names (and then) like a drop of water in a prayer spindle.
I look back at the sign on the street and I remember the story of Joseph Samitier.
THE BOY
Josephine Samiteer was an ambitious eight-year-old kid. Rolling down a tire down the street to Les Corts, he wanted to have one of them for himself to ride a glossy car with smooth outlines. He wanted people to waving him wherever he went.
When the kid told this to his father, he laughed as his mother stroked him with the words: my love. (Of course, Josephine, of course, my love. )
At the age of 16, in 1918, the boy sold his soul to FC Barcelona in exchange for a wristwatch with a glittering dial, an elegant three-piece suit and greatness.
THE DRILL
If God wanted subordinate men on earth, he would not invent the heavens. And if there were no heavens, and Antoni Gaudi -;the artist of Sagrada Familia, and Jose Samitier would have been unemployed.
The rumors of a partial footballer, partly an acrobat, who presented amazing numbers based on agility and versatility in the middle of the pitch, using inertia as his trapeze, spread remarkably quickly.
He opposed gravity, finding positions in the opposing penal field as if he had jumped out of nowhere with lightning movements and the perfect choice of moment. Jumping and hanging in the air, thundering goals and tense breaks made his game from
football livescore play.
Meanwhile, the father and son of the Mediterranean kind of football, Jose Samitier had a dribbling with elements of gymnastics, acrobatics, circus and ballet. He overcame the boundaries of time and space with Olympic grace, which the midfielder scorers still fail to repeat almost a century after. He had a joke that made audiences play Fujiwowouwow! .
Was Samiteer one of the first half-defense generals?
Click here for all
Football blog, reviews, analysis