A bizarre story surrounding past ongoings in the Barcelona youth academy has this week come to the fore online.
This comes after Espanyol star Sergi Gómez opened up on a memorable experience shared with Mauro Icardi.
Defender Gómez and frontman Icardi spent time developing alongside one another at La Masia.
At one point, the two players even shared a living space, giving rise to a number of shared experiences on and off the pitch alike.
Speaking during an interview with Post United (as cited by Mundo Deportivo) this week, Gómez was therefore asked to recall any such memories from his time at Barcelona.
And the 33-year-old’s ensuing response, detailed below, is no doubt set to go viral across the world of football:
“I have a story that is, for me, the best with Mauro Icardi. He arrives at La Masia and we are teammates for, I think, 3 or 4 seasons, one of which was when we lived together in an apartment with Marc Muniesa and Sergi Roberto. When he arrives, he says to me, ‘Come with me, we’re going next door, to the park.’
I see that he’s bringing some wood that he cut the day before in the shape of a Greek Y. And he’s put a really hard rubber band on it, hooked on it, like, he made a slingshot by hand. Going to buy the rubber band at the hardware store and everything. And I say, ‘What are you doing?’ And he says, ‘Yes, come with me. Do you see up there at the top?’ A tree, I don’t know, 20-25 meters high. ‘I see it’s a pine tree and it has pine cones, right?’ And he says, ‘No, higher up.’ And there was a pigeon that I swear you couldn’t even see. He grabs a rock, stretches it out like this, and goes, “Slap!” And you see a pigeon fall, 20-30 meters high.
“I said, ‘What are you doing, Mauro?’ He said, ‘Let’s go.’ We went to La Masia, he plucked all his feathers, removed the stones from his neck, opened a wire hanger, put it inside, lit a fire, cooked it, and ate it in front of me. I thought, what awaits me from now on? He killed a pigeon, cooked it, and ate it. We lived together for a long time. I have a lot of affection for him… if he sees this, he knows I have him in my heart.”
Conor Laird – GSFN
