high and low passions

Soccer is a field as open to greatness as it is to misery.

But the passions that exaggerate and the rivalries that fray make us pay much more attention to the controversies than to the lessons of honesty.

Any week serves as an example that everything is worth to us to ignite debates, from the differences of styles to the arbitration suspicions, for not leaving classic subjects.

Why is it so hard for us to recognize honor and ethics?

It is usually in the little things and like any exercise of dignity, it provokes emotion.

Last Sunday, Cádiz, in a fierce fight to avoid relegation, and Madrid, already champions, faced each other.

Everything and nothing at stake.

The captains of Cádiz (Alex Fernández) and Madrid (Nacho) are brothers.

A nice story, if we don't inflate it with the usual mistrust.

Nice picture, ugly match

The match showed us an ambitious Cádiz, who attacked with many people and created clear chances.

On some occasions he collided with his limitations and on others with Madrid's defensive success, very particularly Nacho's, who was always where he should have been, with a high level of concentration and success.

Madrid scored, so Cádiz added necessity to the ambition.

But Nacho continued there, impassive, closing pass lines, starring in defensive actions with goal value.

Finally, Cádiz tied, an insufficient score that puts them in direct relegation before the last day.

Nacho had work left.

He stood before the Movistar + microphone, cleared up a controversy as if it were one more ball and talked about his game.

“The photo with my brother was very nice, but then you have to play the game.

Personally,

ethics is always great

Nacho finished his speech in a decent and discreet way: “But this is football and everyone must fight for their own”.

It doesn't mean that he loves Madrid more than his brother, or that he respects football more than his brother.

It means that when you put on a club shirt, you have to honor that commitment by playing with responsibility, dignity and courage.

This is how the price of the ticket is returned to the people, which he pays to see a fair game and not to be cheated by those who must defend the shield of his club.

Nacho did not need this episode to teach us that the first condition of a professional is to be a person of integrity.

He shows it with his everyday sense of duty.

But it is worth highlighting these small exercises in dignity so that they clean up the shit that comes down from some offices with his example.

The magnifying glass in the right place

At the end of the season, football is looked at with a magnifying glass.

What would have happened to Nacho's credibility if he had made a rude and saving mistake for Cádiz?

However, his impeccable match did not provoke further comment.

Of course, football moves passions, money and temptations of all kinds, but I must say that the cases of corruption of footballers that I have seen in the fifty years that I have been around football are exceptional.

In the locker room there is ingenuity and cunning, but also codes and relationships of affection that do not authorize betrayals as miserable as selling out a game.

Since football is such an important part of popular culture and one of the places that children look to the most to imitate, it is inevitable to ask again: why don't we talk more about honor and ethics?

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