King Abidal

A Football Report

King Abidal “ By Zito Madu
”
Conquer the fear of death and you will know the death of fear.
A few days ago, the King —Thierry Henry— retired from football. Today, another French royal follows suit.
It would be superfluous to talk about Eric Abidal in...

King Abidal

By Zito Madu

Conquer the fear of death and you will know the death of fear.

A few days ago, the King —Thierry Henry— retired from football. Today, another French royal follows suit.

It would be superfluous to talk about Eric Abidal in the sense of awards won —though they are plenty— and victories in football. Though he has always been a dignified figure in not only his personal life and even his on-field performances carried an air of ease and quiet self-confidence; his biggest win is still in defeating an enemy that only Hercules and a few lucky others have managed to grapple with and walk away from the better.

Few moments in football, and only one in recent memory —Iniesta scoring the winning goal in the World Cup 2010 and then revealing a shirt underneath with the name of Dani Jarque, his deceased friend and former footballer who died from a heart attack at 26— could come close to the scene after Barcelona won the 2011 European Cup. In March of 2011, Abidal was diagnosed with a tumor in his liver. On the 28th of May, in that same year, Abidal played the full 90 minutes in the 3-1 Barcelona win against Manchester United in the Champions League final. If that is not remarkable, then I don’t know what is.

At the trophy celebration, Carles Puyol wrapped the armband on Abidal and allowed him to lift the trophy as Captain in front of a crowd of 85,000. That gesture was the high point of months of support for the Frenchman from all over the world. Even Real Madrid, eternal rivals of Barcelona, wore shirts of support for the defender, even displaying a get well message on the scoreboard in their match against Lyon —who also wore the shirts and incidentally, Abidal played 76 games for Lyon. The general support was all across the globe, from fans, players, managers and even politicians was emotional enough to convince one that maybe, just maybe, the footballing community isn’t so bad.

And Abidal returned and played, and won with the same quiet dignity that he has always held. When it was announced in March of the following year that he needed a liver transplant because of issues from the previous operation, he took that on too with a powerful and gentle spirit.

Sidenote: As much as Dani Alves is hated for his on-pitch antics and behavior, he was one to offer part of his liver for Abidal’s operation and that’s pretty ******* cool.

When doctors discussed his future playing prospects, he determined that he would be grateful just to be at full health again.

During all of this, Barcelona had promised Abidal that they would extend his contract if he was to recover fully, a promise that they reneged on, leaving the defender to sign with Monaco for a year. Abidal had no words of hate or anger for his former bosses, instead he thanked them for all they had done for him and for the medical attention they had provided. Still, even to this day, many Barcelona officials are vocal about the regret in the way his situation was handled.

Nonetheless, he moved on and played for Monaco, helped them to secure a Champions League place which they rewarded him by extending his contract. He then moved on to Olympiacos before announcing his retirement.

Everything he’s won during his career: the awards, trophies, caps etc, are all dwarfed by the man himself. The way he played was unbothered, not effortless, but as a person who knows that regardless of the number of tricks that the forward has, the countless misfortunes that life seems to revel in, that he would win in the end. He was tidy, reserved and gentle and that’s more powerful than any disease could ever be. Those are the qualities of a king and football was lucky to have such a man.