Off the Deep End (Cristiano Ronaldo / Lionel Messi)

Chapter 18: All of You

Tuesday 21st April 2015

"Vamos, señores, ya es la hora. Everyone must be alert, Iniesta and Neymar did well, but we can't relax just yet. We have all the power in our own hands to win this game, so let's just finish it. Xavi will replace Iniesta and, if everything goes well, Luis and Busi will get some rest too."

It was the half-time of the Champions League quarter-final second leg match against PSG and the head coach of the team, Luis Enrique, was giving a speech to the players in the FC Barcelona first team dressing room, but Leo found it hard to concentrate. Instead, he kept on fixing the laces of his cleats, like his poor performance was up to them; Probably that's why he didn't notice the big giant, who had somehow materialized right next to him at some point.

"Head up, Leo. It's not your day, but you're still doing great. Just give me a cross or two, and I will take care of the rest, deal?"

Leo chuckled dryly at Geri, who patted him on the back as an encouragement, and Leo shot a grateful smile at his Catalan friend. Then he saw Neymar, who was watching him carefully from the corner of the room and gave him a thumbs up.

"You're on fire today, Ney", he said, and the younger man's face lit up with the most radiant smile.

"Fireman Ney at your service, Leo!" the Brazilian giggled and pretended to spray him with an invisible fire hose.

Leo laughed, dodged the imaginary water attack, and suddenly he didn't feel so bad about himself anymore. This was a group effort, after all, and if his role today was that of the sidekick rather than the hero then let's be it.

It was Neymar's turn to shine today.

Although he started to feel somewhat better, it didn't really show on the pitch though. The final whistle was blown right after his last attempt went just wide of the left corner and he was just glad that this was over and Barca had made it to the next round of the Champions League.

"Leo!" Neymar said and grabbed his arm, pulling him into a brotherly hug. Leo let him do that, and soon Luis, Ivan, Dani and Geri joined in, and in the matter of seconds the brotherly hug had turned into a celebratory pile.

"We made it! I knew we would! Visca Barca!" Ney cheered.

"It would have been 5-0, if Leo had given me those crosses, but oh well, good game anyways, guys!" Geri teased. "In Zlatan's face!"

Eventually, when the blue and red pile of Blaugrana players was sorted out, they went on to shake hands with the PSG players and thank the audience.

After a while Leo decided he had done his part today and descended the little stairs to the players' tunnel and headed to the dressing room.

Along the way to the dressing room there was the mixed zone that was buzzing with reporters, TV crews and cameras separated from the players by only a simple metal fence. Leo hated that area. As usual, he picked up his pace and looked straight ahead, in attempt to discourage any interview-hungry reporters.

But to his displeasure he soon felt a tug at his sleeve and turned around, almost colliding with a microphone with a logo of the Marca newspaper on it.

"Leo, Leo, a few words about the game, please!" pleaded the enthusiastic, but mellow voice of the male reporter holding the microphone. Leo looked up and froze as the realization hit him.

It was Sergio.

After sending HASTALAVISTA the message a couple of days ago, Sergio had sent Leo his picture in return, so it wasn't difficult for Leo to recognize him, although he was wearing a suit and had combed his thick black hair behind to make a more refined look.