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Pablo Zabaleta exclusive interview: 'Losing the World Cup final is something you will never forget'
Pablo Zabaleta remembers lying awake, talking with Javier Mascherano, on the night before the 2014 World Cup final. He remembers the fireworks that were set off outside the Argentina hotel, the singing of the Brazilians that seeped through the walls.
He remembers travelling to the stadium, watching through the windows as blue-and-white shirts packed the streets of Rio de Janeiro. He remembers lining up on the pitch at the Maracana, Lionel Messi to his right, as the national anthems played.
He remembers the chances they had, the opportunities they wasted. He remembers how well Argentina had defended, how close they came to making it the greatest night of their lives. He remembers the excitement and the nerves. He remembers the pain.
“It still hurts,” he says. “I was watching TV the other day and they were showing some clips of that game. When you see that, it hurts.
“It is something that you will never forget in your life. It took 24 years for Argentina to be involved in a World Cup final again. You never know as a player if you will ever again have the chance to play in a game of that importance.
“It is something you dream of. The build-up, the days before, being on the way to the stadium and seeing the excitement of the fans, your country, knowing that everyone is watching. It is probably the biggest game. From an emotional point of view, it is massive.”
As Mario Gotze ran off in celebration of his extra-time winner for Germany, Zabaleta’s hands dropped to his knees, his shoulders hunched over as if the air had been purged from his lungs. Earlier, Gonzalo Higuain, Rodrigo Palacio and Messi had all spurned clear opportunities to give Argentina the lead.
“Everyone thought that Germany would score seven goals again after beating Brazil, but it was a really good game from us,” Zabaleta says.
“We couldn’t take our chances, that was the only thing. We were a really strong team defensively, but we conceded that goal just five minutes before the end of extra time.
“It was a shame, because I thought we had three really good chances to score a goal. It would have been a different story. But this is the World Cup, this is how difficult it is. You have to take your chances.”
Since then, Argentina have lost two Copa America finals, both on penalties to Chile. Three times in three years they reached the climax of an international tournament and three times they fell short.
Zabaleta, now 33, last played for his country in October 2016, at the start of a turbulent qualification journey to Russia. This summer, the West Ham United defender will be at the tournament in a new capacity, as a pundit for the BBC.
It his first foray into television. It is not necessarily a path he expects to pursue after retirement, but it still feels like a natural progression for a player who has always been seen, especially during his nine years at Manchester City, as one of the Premier League’s more thoughtful imports.
“I have always tried to analyse how we can improve, to talk to the manager and say what I think about the team and the training sessions,” he says. “I always analyse everything. At the moment it is not something I have got in my mind to do after my career, but we will see how it goes. Hopefully I can enjoy it.”
Four years on from playing for the biggest title in football, he will now be studying his old team-mates, deconstructing the passing patterns of his friends and critiquing a defence in which he used to operate. He hopes there will be more to praise than pillory, of course, but Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Iceland was hardly the ideal start to the tournament.
“This group of players have been playing together for the last seven or eight years and they lost three consecutive finals,” he says. “They are top players.”
The greatest of them all is Messi, even if his missed penalty against Iceland cost Argentina three points in their first game. The Barcelona forward turns 31 this month, so this may be his last chance to win a World Cup that would, in many people’s eyes, end the debate about whether he deserves to be considered the best of them all.
“He is unique,” says Zabaleta. “We will not see a player like him again, not for a long time. When he gets the ball, everyone senses that something will happen. The way he drives the ball forward, he’s so quick to play one-twos and in front of goal he is a finisher.”
It is perhaps less appreciated that Messi, quiet and introverted, doubles up as the leader of this Argentina side. “When you see him, he probably seems like a quiet guy who does not talk too much. But you see he is a winner. He wants to win, he wants to play. He has that ambition. He can make things happen.”
Messi’s international career has inevitably been punctuated by comparisons with Diego Maradona, and he has never been as loved in his homeland. That adoration for Maradona, Zabaleta says, has created a unique legacy for Argentine football, but it has also fostered a burden for later generations.
“There is a bit of negativity. As Argentina fans, we have to enjoy having two of the greatest players in history. To have Maradona and Messi is something that we need to be proud of.
“Maradona was like a god. He brought glory to the people and to the country. But sometimes football is too much for Argentine people, and we create all of that. Sometimes we are a bit crazy, a bit mad about football. We have to be proud, to enjoy them.
“For me, Messi is the best player in the world, without a doubt. It will not change if he wins the World Cup [but] I wish, from the deepest of my heart, that he will get the chance to win it. You see the greatest players with a World Cup trophy in their hands, and that picture will be forever.”
The inference is clear: World Cup memories do not fade away. The glory lasts forever and, as Zabaleta knows all too well, so does the pain.
The BBC are providing 24/7 coverage of the World Cup across television, radio and online.