André-Pierre Gignac celebrates a goal for the Tigres during the Club World Cup semi-final against Palmeiras.DeFodi Images / Getty
André-Pierre Gignac (Martigues, France, 35 years old) can readily validate one of Javier Marías' great phrases: “Football is the weekly recovery of childhood”.
Gignac left France at the age of 30, in his prime, to smile like a child again.
His signing for Tigres was seen as the umpteenth footballer who plans his last years in Mexico.
The French player was reunited on a goal with the spark that had waned in Marseille.
After five years of Mexican adventure, he has established himself as the team's top scorer, leading him to play the final of the Club World Cup against Bayern Munich.
Gignac grew up in the south of France helping her mother sell women's clothing in the caravans.
His grandparents, Spanish gypsies who emigrated to Algeria, could not deny him the possibility of kicking a ball as did the great Franco-Algerian pride: Zinedine Zidane.
But who the young man saw as an example was the Dutch Ruud Van Nistelrooy, then at Manchester United.
The Lorient of the French League was his platform to reach Toulouse, the club that propelled him to the front of France in 2009. His debut came in a stormy qualification for the 2010 World Cup in which
les bleus
suffered and played the play-off against Ireland.
A play with the hand of Thierry Henry gave the classification to his team in a serious referee error.
A bad omen of what would happen that summer.
France experienced its greatest embarrassment in South Africa.
After losing the second game against Mexico, one of the team's leaders, Nicolás Anelka, called his coach, Raymond Domenech, a “dirty son of a bitch”.
The Federation expelled him from the group and, in response, the players rioted and refused to train.
Despite the tension, they returned to play, but finished last in the group stage and closed their worst performance in a World Cup punctuated by controversy.
After the World Cup, Gignac was hired by the team he watched in the afternoons as a child: Olympique de Marseille.
His poor physical shape was a drag.
Rival fans chanted him mocking his weight: "a Big Mac for Gignac."
Gignac coincided with Marcelo Bielsa, who motivated him to be a better forward.
“It infects, it transmits, it vibrates, it excites the fan and they become passionate about it.
He is an amateur, although he behaves like a professional ”, wrote the Argentine coach about the footballer.
Gignac's stage ended with 77 goals in 186 games.
Los Tigres, a team from northern Mexico with one of the best payrolls, announced the signing of André-Pierre Gignac in 2015. His hiring was viewed with caution.
Renowned European footballers had already arrived in the country, who played their last years as Bernd Schuster (Pumas), Luis García Sanz (Puebla) or even Pep Guardiola (Dorados de Sinaloa).
As soon as Gignac arrived, the club was invigorated.
They reached, thanks to their goals, the final of the Copa Libertadores and lost against River Plate.
But it was not until his arrival that he conquered the Mexican League and his great physical form was so attractive that Didier Deschamps, the French coach, called him up to play the 2016 Euro Cup. Gignac missed a very clear chance in the final against Portugal in the last minutes.
He was not summoned again.
Gignac, who began to speak very discreet Spanish, now sings Luis Miguel's songs in training.
In interviews, he does not miss the opportunity to speak of Mexican words.
“They are different from Spanish.
The guy, how are you, guy, is like a
gros
(fat),
frère
(brother) ”, Gignac explained to Lucas Hernández, a Frenchman from Bayern Munich, in a video chat.
Gignac applied for Mexican nationality.
Gignac's five years in Mexico have been a whirlwind, scoring 147 goals, a high figure that has established him as the club's best scorer.
He has won four Mexican tournament titles.
The Tigres, who were at the limit of winning a Copa Libertadores, sought to show themselves in the Club World Cup, but lost three times the final of the tournament that gave them that opportunity: the Concacaf Champions League.
It was a few months ago that they were able to win it thanks to Gignac.
"It is not because I am a conceited or enlarged player, [but I know that] I have a full mentality," Gignac said in an interview with journalist Roberto Gómez Junco.
The Tigres have become the first Mexican team to qualify for the final of a Club World Cup, despite being recurring guests since 2006. The match against Bayern, the Champions League champion and unstoppable in the finals, looks like a very high mountain to climb.
Gignac, with the soul of a child, wants to surprise the world.