Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 29 May 2018

Where's Messi? Tributes missing in his native Argentina city

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO we have to evaluate and
Associated Press rethink about ... people
ROSARIO, Argentina (AP) who perhaps deserve more
— Right before kickoff, the recognition," said Sandro
plasma TV's were still tuned Alzugaray, a sculptor. In his
to a tennis match on mute atelier, he keeps a scale
instead of the Barcelona model of a Messi statue.
game at a nearly empty He presented the plan to
bar owned by Lionel Messi's city officials four years ago
family in his Argentina and it has yet to receive
hometown. approval.
The only clue at the bar Messi was born a year after
were some photos of Messi. Maradona led Argentina
No one seemed to care to the World Cup trophy
about the game until a in 1986. But he has faced
couple walked in hurriedly comparisons to the
and asked a waiter to former Argentine captain
change the channel. The throughout his life.
college students from "For us...who took care
Germany had saved for of him, it hurts to hear the
months to travel on a criticism, the comparisons
pilgrimage to their idol's to Maradona," said Andrea
native city. By this point they In this April 18, 2018 photo, Alejandro Daniel Fernandez poses for a photo by a mural of his Liliana Sosa, one of Messi's
were disappointed: they childhood friend, Lionel Messi, that reads in Spanish "From my neighborhood!" in La Bajada, former teachers.
had seen no Messi statues, Rosario, Argentina. A mural of a young Messi
plaques or museums. Associated Press clad in the red-and-black
Nothing. relationship with the world's Ernesto "Che" Guevara, In the working-class colors of Newell's features
"It seems like I feel more most famous footballer? and a talent factory for neighborhood of La at the club's youth sporting
for Messi than Rosarinos," Many here seem to some of Argentina's best Bajada, neighbors greet complex. It's the only sign
Oshin Gharibi, 32, said as come back to the same footballers and coaches. each other by name and that the five-time FIFA
he watched the match theories: a soccer-mad But for Rosarinos only kids ride bikes on narrow world player of the year
next to his girlfriend, Lena city divided by the rivalry two clubs matter: Rosario streets. As they walk up to was a standout player here
Wagner, 23. She wore a of its two beloved clubs; Central and Newell's Old the rusty gate of Messi's as a child.
Barcelona shirt adorned the comparisons to Diego Boys, its eternal rival and childhood home, the "I think we're not using the
with Messi's number 10 on Maradona; and the idea Messi's childhood club. German tourists can hardly marketing correctly," said
the back. that anything but winning "You breathe football contain their joy. Gustavo Pereira, a Newell's
"Messi is such a big star from is worthless. In a decade everywhere in Rosario, "We could have traveled youth division coach.
such a small place," Gharibi of winning trophies for but, curiously, the air to a beach in Barcelona, Perhaps Rosarinos care so
said. "How can you not give Barcelona, the best player doesn't smell of Messi," Thailand or Australia, but much about Messi's privacy
him the recognition that he of his generation has yet author Guillem Balague we came here," Wagner because they want him to
deserves?" to deliver a World Cup for writes in "Messi," the official said. "It's worth it because keep coming back.
It's a mystery that confounds Argentina - as Maradona biography. we get to see the places "When people ask me
many. Cristiano Ronaldo did in 1986. Russia might be Everybody seems to have where he grew up." about a Messi tourist tour,
has an airport named the last chance for Messi, a story about Messi, but Messi is strongly connected it pains me," said Hector
after him on his Portuguese who will turn 31 during the "the city does not seem to to Rosario. His accent is De Benedictis, Rosario's
home island of Madeira; tournament. want to gloat. It's almost unchanged, even though Tourism Secretariat. In his
Pele has his museum in Rosario, a river port and as if it is considered vulgar he left the city 18 years hand, he held copies for a
his Brazilian native city of Argentina's third-largest city to have his face posted ago. He returns often and Messi tour that his office has
Santos; even Rocky Balboa is located about 180 miles everywhere," Balague says. last year, he married his tried to launch twice. But
- a fictional boxer- has northwest of Buenos Aires. But "when you ask him childhood sweetheart in the Messi family rejected
been paid homage with It's best known for being what his favorite memories the city. the proposal because of
a statue in Philadelphia. the country's agricultural are, he is in no doubt. 'My "I don't think it's something privacy concerns. "It's a
So why does Rosario seem hub, the hometown of home, my neighborhood, against Messi, but perhaps question of ethics."q
to have an ambivalent revolutionary leader where I was born.'" something cultural that