When the head referee blew the final whistle, Messi stood ramrod straight on the pitch.
He was not tall and had a full beard. His left hand rested on his hip, while his right hand occasionally pinched his nose. Yet his eyes remained fixed on the main stand at Camp Nou, where the fans were furiously booing the Barcelona players on the pitch.
In their fury, they blamed every Barcelona player on the field for the humiliating defeat, even Messi.
Messi knew that, but he still stood there rigidly, bearing it all.
He did not want to run away!
After losing, he felt far worse than the fans at the stadium—or anyone else.
He was about to turn thirty-two. He did not know how long he could maintain his current form. He had also begun following Yang Yang's example, gradually reducing the number of matches he played while having his team draw up a weight-loss plan to extend his career. What he wanted was to one day ascend the throne at the summit.
Like Cristiano Ronaldo, he had originally thought that Yang Yang's departure from Real Madrid and move to Amsterdam would be the perfect opportunity. He had not expected Yang Yang to strike at him in such a way.
Five-nil!
What an astonishing scoreline!
If anyone had told Messi before the match that Barcelona would lose five-nil to Ajax at Camp Nou, Messi would have spat at him and cursed, "Are you fucking crazy?"
But now, something this insane had happened right before his eyes.
Ajax had played like a team gone mad. They had pressured Barcelona throughout the entire match. Even after Yang Yang came off, the substitutes Haaland and Malen had each received an excellent scoring chance, though unfortunately neither had taken theirs.
Barcelona should have been