Sportweek, Messi and career milestones

At the end of a game that couldn’t have been imagined more exciting, Lionel Messi finally managed to claim the only trophy he still needed, the most important one, bringing the World Cup back to Argentina 36 years after Maradona. The cover and the opening article of Sportweek on newsstands on Saturday with the Gazzetta at the total price of 2 euros are therefore dedicated to him. Thanks to the pen of those who have followed 20 years of extraordinary career, we retrace the steps of a story that began in 2000 on a napkin, a football tale in which the ugly duckling becomes the strongest player in the world.

An epic career

—

The growth problems that led him to just 13 years in Europe, the almost overwhelming confrontation with Maradona, the endless rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo, the Champions League and Ballon d’Or in series, the special relationship with Barcelona and with the game of Guardiola, who exalted his already sublime natural talents, the difficulties encountered instead with the national team, of which he struggled to become leader and driving force until last year, with the victory of the America’s Cup in Brazil and then with the apotheosis in Qatar: all this, accompanied by the emblematic images of Messi’s career, is recomposed in the cover story of our magazine.

Undisciplined

—

The exclusive feature of the week instead is with Marko Arnautovic, the Austrian centre-forward from Bologna who, after an unhappy season at Inter 13 years ago, returned to Serie A at the end of an extensive tour that also led him to play in China. “I was undisciplined – he says -, convinced I was the best, I didn’t accept reproaches from anyone, not even from Mourinho. I was completely wrong. And that screwed me over. Everyone tells me: Your career could have been very different. It is true. Today I am a husband and father, I have great responsibilities, but every now and then what I was comes out on the pitch”.

The faces of 2022

—

But the big piece of Sportweek on Saturday is the “Speciale moda”, a 40-page portfolio with 22 portraits of the protagonists of sport to end the year on a high note: from Myriam Sylla to Sara Gama, from Tomori to Leclerc, from Tortu to Musetti, from Datome to D’Ambrosio, from Farfalle to Sofia Goggia and many others, an authentic parade of champions like you’ve never seen them before. Among them also Marcell Jacobs, the fastest man in the world, interviewed in an unusual face to face with his coach Paolo Camossi, much more than a technician: “For me he was a second father, even the first”. Who says to him: “I love you, even if in life you are a latecomer”. Not on the track though, thanks also to him. Not to be missed as part of the fashion special is also the other exclusive with Nicolò Martinenghi, the king of the frog who spells out his life through 17 letters. So, happy reading and happy holidays to everyone from the Sportweek editorial team.