When Figo passed to Morientes
The player taking the corner looks familiar. Never mind the face; the swing of the right foot is a dead giveaway. It’s the kind of fluid and kinetic motion that, seen even once, is not easily forgotten. The swing of the foot is low and slow, stopping in mid-air for a fraction of second, as it wraps itself over the ball. The movement is so smooth it seems effortless, yet the power behind it is unmistakable. The ball soars, drops and curves, precisely into the head of Fernando Morientes. But the striker’s header balloons over the crossbar. Morientes flashes an apology; Figo grudgingly accepts. The moment could have been composed in Nou Camp or Santiago Bernabéu, sometime at the stroke of the century, but here it was at the DY Patil Stadium, in the blistering Mumbai heat and humidity, in 2025. They swayed and swung as they celebrated a night etched in the past, watched countless times on the television. The footballers, agile and athletic in their peak years, their tissues and muscles ravaged by …
