It's hard not to wander through the Twitter account in recent days without coming across the #CR7ARiver hashtag.
There are also other hashtags associating Edinson Cavani with Boca Juniors and even Leo Messi with the Argentinian Racing Club, but the most popular hashtag is the one trying to bring Cristiano Ronaldo to River Plate.
Officially, this is a campaign.
Tens of thousands of fans rallied for the cause with the help of photos of the Portuguese in the white-red uniform, and especially with the hashtag in question.
It's true that Marcelo Gazzardo's side need a striker after selling Julián Alvarez to Manchester City and Brian Romero to Internazionale, and it's true that Ronaldo is at a crossroads in his illustrious career, but even when weighing all these variables, the chances of that happening seem extremely slim.
And yet, despite this, the River fans have seen what the National Uruguayans have done, and they allow themselves to dream.
National fans.
dream big,
In short, what Nacional fans did was to remind that football is still where legends are made.
They, and especially they, managed to make Luis Suarez - the top scorer of the Uruguayan national team of all time and one of the greatest strikers in the world in the last decade and a half - follow his heart.
Although he is 35 years old, Suarez could have taken his talent to any European league, and certainly to the USA and other territories where the pocket can be inflated, but he chose to return home.
Luis Suarez.
Closing circle, photo: IP
16 years after he left Nacional for Groningen and from there for Ajax, Liverpool, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid - the mighty striker decided it was time to return to the place where it all began.
"It's a great happiness to go back and wear the shirt of Nacional," Suarez wrote on his Instagram account, "Thanks to everyone for the support, we'll meet soon."
"It was impossible to refuse"
The importance Suarez attributes to the murmurs of the heart when it comes to his professional choices could have been learned at the beginning of his career.
According to the stories, his choice to move to Groningen at the age of 19 was primarily to be close to his partner, Sofia, who had moved to Barcelona a few years earlier.
When she left, the striker promised her that he would get a contract with a European team and thus they would be together again.
Soares kept his word, and the two live happily and richly to this day together with their three children.
This summer, when it was clear that he would not continue at Atlético, it was again his heart that guided him to his next destination.
National fans.
dream big,
First, River Plate was interested.
A great, competitive team, not far from the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo, an option that looks great on paper and with the World Cup in Qatar on the horizon.
According to rumors and reports, this deal was close to being implemented, but then two things happened: River was unexpectedly kicked out of the Copa Libertadores, and Nacional fans started a campaign to bring Suarez home.
In numbers, it is about something like 50 million uses of the hashtag, which asks the striker to return to the team of his youth, and 35 countries where this hashtag was used (Israel included - for those who asked).
National fans.
dream big,
The fans of the team, last year's runner-up, also showed up to the team's games with masks in Suarez's image, as well as signs and shirts and more.
Suarez could not remain indifferent to these extreme manifestations of love, and when he arrived he said: "All the messages and videos I received moved me very much, they touched my heart at the exact moment when I had to make a decision. It was impossible to refuse the National in such a situation."
The romance does not end with the striker's decision to return.
Nacional of coach Pablo Repto is a good offensive team that combines veteran players such as 35-year-old Emmanuel Gigliotti alongside 22-year-old Franco Pagundes, and has serious ambitions beyond winning the local tournament.
Since 1989, when they won the Copa Sudamericana, Nacional has not won any international title.
This season, she defeated Unión from Santa Fe on the way to the quarter-finals of the Sudamericana against Atlético Guianense, and the reinforcement in the character of Suarez makes her one of the candidates to go all the way in the second most important enterprise in South America.
Luis Suarez. Leaving Spain, photo: AP
"We all really wanted him to come, and now we are very excited that he is here," coach Rafto admitted in recent days.
Given the power of this story, one can only imagine what will happen if Suarez actually succeeds in leading the team to win the Sudamericana after more than 30 years of drought.
It will be so amazing, maybe it will convince Ronaldo to come to River.
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