Me and my life

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.