Misses are misses, results are results, but achievements are also achievements, and Higuain is willing to put his up against anyone's. Those moments, he says, are the ones he looks back at most. There are Golden Boots and Team of the Season awards, too, as Higuain had the pleasure of shining brightly alongside the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. There are stories about trophies, lots of them, in La Liga and Serie A.
There are stories about goals, 364 of them to be exact, putting him right up there with the best to have done it.
The crucial misses for Argentina at the World Cup and Copa America – those moments are part of his story, he says.īut they're not the entire story. Higuain is well aware that there are some that will never forgive him for his perceived failings on the big stage, and that's fine. "This criticism and the disrespect, you're not able to react and that's something that most people don't understand, just how difficult that is." And that's something that I want to stop: eating this sh*t and just having to pull back and receive this. "I'm tired of not being able to react and having to deal with this disrespect, especially when I'm with my family. And the one thing is that, if you want to judge me or you want to criticize me, then you have to be ready to hear back from me. "It's people that don't understand me and or know me and they think that because you make money, then they have the right to insult you. They insult you when you cannot react and they offend you or disrespect you or your family. "I've had a life that hasn't been very normal," he says, "and for me, when people are talking about me without knowing me, insulting me, disrespecting me without knowing who I am, the tough thing is that I'm not able to react. While many of his peers constantly reiterate the point that they don't pay attention to journalists or social media, Higuain is willing to admit that he knows what some football fans view him as a 'choker' and that it does, in fact, bother him on a human level. The 34-year-old striker is well aware of the reputation that hangs over him to this day. Indeed, one of the most impressive things about him is how self-aware he is in an era where athletes are trained to be so insular. Higuain is eager to talk about the great experiences, but also willing to dive into the tough times. "I've had many great experiences, some great ones, some not-so-great ones, to be able to get to this level." Getty/GOAL Your life changes completely, so I had to live it. The love for the sport is not the same because of many other things: money and finances, sporting directors and contracts, all of these things. "But then you notice that it's not the same.
NOT ALL THINGS DONE IN THE DARK ARE SHAMEFUL. PROFESSIONAL
"When I was a kid, I hoped that when you grew up and you became a professional footballer, that you felt the same things, that it was very similar to the passion and love that you had when you're a kid playing football. "I played because of the passion that I had for the sport and I always had this dream of wanting to become a professional player but, in that moment, you didn't really know what that came with. "I didn't do it because I wanted to be famous or anything like that. "When I was a kid and I was outside with a football, I started playing it because of the love of the game," he tells GOAL. So, what's it been like, for Gonzalo Higuain, and not just as a player, but as a human being?
He'll be remembered as a player that fans, both of his clubs and their rivals, poked fun at time and time again no matter how many goals he scored or how many trophies he won.įew people have ever had their biggest moments play out under such bright lights, and few have ever seen those bright moments become so dark with the swing of a leg. He'll be remembered for his disappointments on the biggest stage, for his flaws, and for how the world was able to watch and criticize him in real time. He'll be remembered as an incredible goalscorer for club and country, as one of the best pure strikers the game has seen in quite some time.īut he'll also be remembered as perhaps the biggest victim of football's social media generation.
How could anyone possibly dig into everything Higuain has seen and done in just five minutes?Īs he heads towards retirement, Higuain will be remembered as one of the most prolific, and complicated, players of a generation.
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