In 24 hours, something every single culer has been waiting for 4 years will happen. Our beloved club will play its 8th European Cup final. After a season where we saw 3 very different tactical approaches, where the coach was almost fired in January and where we saw our most recognizable strenght (the midfield) be diminished so the best attacking trio of all times could shine, we are here.

Berlin.

Most of us won’t be there. Me included. But all of us followed this roller coaster of a UCL season we had. And given the pessimism most culers suffer from, let’s be reminded of our campaign so far:

Group Stages. “This FCB team is in formation, PSG will finish as group champions”. This was the main talk, especially after that crazy 3-2 in Paris.
Then we crushed them at the Camp Nou and won the Group.

1/16. Manchester City. “We are done. FCB is in crisis and City even managed to beat Bayern”. Messi pulled 2 of his most incredible performances ever, and we went through comfortably.

1/8. PSG once again. “PSG knocked Chelsea off! They are ready for us! They already beat us!”. Suarez ripped David Luiz in two (twice) and we have fun with them at the Camp Nou as well.

Semi-finals. Bayern. Pep. “This is over. This draw was rigged so RM would reach the final. We have no chance against Pep”. Messi “killed” Pep the same way Zeus killed Chronos to take up his place as the ruler of Olympus. The defeat in Germany meant very little. We reached the final.

Juventus has been dominating Italian football for several years now, and that won’t end any time soon. They are cohesive, united team, with a defense just as strong as ours (but not better), one of the most talented midfields in Europe (not as experienced as ours) and a very dangerous attack with Tevez and Morata (not even gonna say anything about MSN).

And there’s Messi. I know, you are all tired of hearing about him, but when it comes to the UCL, and to finals, there’s no ignoring him.

Messi knows very well when to force himself and when to take it easy. I have been saying this for years, but this season it became very clear.

When he’s playing Copa del Rey matches, it is as if he makes it clear he is holding back. It’s the competition he has his “worst” scoring ratio. He knows it is the least important title of the season, and there’s always a second leg if things somehow get ugly.

But, at the final, he scored one of the most incredible goals of his career. He knew that time had come to stop holding back and what he unleashed was historical. Irrepetible.

43 goals and 18 assists in 38 La Liga matches. Stop and think how insane those numbers are. Messi didn’t end as Pichichi because he took 5 penalties less than the Underwear Seller, but shone by either scoring or assisting in almost all matches this season, especially the hardest ones. His La Liga form is superb, and we he took us to our 23rd title.

But then there’s UCL Messi. The Messi that scares me.

10 goals and 5 assists in 12 games. He could easily have had 4 more goals if not for Hart and Neuer, too. And his performances against PSG, City and especially Bayern had been earth shattering. If you go to any stats website (Whoscored, for instance), you’re gonna see Messi’s numbers are almost perfect during UCL matches.

It’s the hardest competition there is, and he knows it. He knows the team needs his absolute best to achieve success.

And we are very close to that. In 24 hours.

Culers usually worry themselves sick before big games, and there is no bigger game than this.

I won’t read match previews, tactical analysis or player/coaches interviews.
I won’t worry about the lineup, or who isn’t playing for Juventus.

I’m gonna stop reading anything regarding football the moment I post this article on twitter, and dedicate 24 hours to tuning off.

Gonna wake up early tomorrow, go for a run, then play with my dogs.
Thinking of eating some parmegiana steak for lunch tomorrow. Don’t share many things with Messi, but our favorite food is the same.

Then I’m taking a nap and going to the movies. This time, I’m watching a different time of movie.

I’m watching our team close its fantastic season on the best of ways on the biggest screen I could find in Brazil.

Will we win?

Of course we will. Messi was even kind enough to let us know beforehand:

If his UCL form is even better than his usual Godly form, imagine what his UCL final form is going to be.

And imagine that when his even aching to play the final.

In 24 hours, we are gonna have a great time, and so will Messi and the other players. Stop worrying about it, and enjoy.

As a wise dutchman once said, before we won our first European Cup: Salid y disfrutad.
Go out there and enjoy.