The player taking in the corner looks familiar. Never think on the face; The right leg swing is a dead cheap. It is a type of liquid and kinetic motion, which is also seen once, not forgotten easily. The leg swing is low and slow, stops in the middle-hustle for a fraction of the other, as it wraps itself on the ball. The movement is so smooth that it seems comfortable, yet the power behind it is infallible. The ball is properly, drops and decreases in the head of the fernando peacocks. But the balloon of the striker’s header on the crossbar. Morientes shine an forgiveness; Figo seriously accepts.
The moment could be composed in Nu Camp or Santiago Burnbuy, for some time in the stroke of the century, but here it was in the dye Patil Stadium, in 2025 in the heat and humidity of Mumbai, he was celebrating and swinging in the past, he was celebrating one night in the past, he was swiring and swinging. In their peak years, footballers, agile and athletic, their tissues and muscles were destroyed by age and injuries, were dull and dull. But there was no mourning, kindness or tedium.
Eventually, exhibitions are without sports reference. This is uncontrolled, light-hearted theater, when players try to resume their roles that they performed once, but without points, trophies, titles or awards, or rivalry of rivalry and without greed for the fire and heat. But they do not make any pretense or false promises. The audience also knows about the reality before killing the stand, that they are not seeing an original L Classico, but there is a fake version of it.
But it does not matter whether Louis Figo is 52 or Zavi is 45. In the mind of a fan, they are 25 forever. The idol is never age. The fan does not attend the disintegrating shape of their torso, or the curved arches of their shoulders, but the way they were always. They all see that Xavi is unwanted pass-master and Figo ridiculous stylist. A week ago, Chennai performed a miracle in Ronaldinho, Riveldo and Lucio, when he starred by IM Vijayan against the eleven of Indians.
Along with the idol, a part of the watcher is also trapped in the soulless youth. Seeing Ronaldinho, he was taken back to his childhood, teenage or early youth. It must have shaken memories. This is how the sad of the game marks and how to measure, how they remember the anniversary and birthday once. Oh, that day Ronaldinho scored that stner against England; Or the Wonder Gol of Lionel Messi at night sealed El Classico. Or in the evening, Sachin Tendulkar killed a hundred in sand-storey Sharjah. Seeing a legend of the past, in a sense, has to give relief to your past.
Football legend Louis Figo, playing for real madrid legends, passes through a FC Barcelona legendary player at Die Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. (Express photo by Amit Chakraborty)
The exhibition is provoking mamreding – the souls of the game industry – the matches of legends, the admirers match or the charity games and the Presiden Tours. This is probably the most defined reason that people watch sports. To give relief to the past through the present. When Tendulkar stopped a nation to fall in love with cricket in the International Masters League last month, he re -created the nation’s experience of Tendulkar. His touch inadvertently, inadvertently, he unboxed the entire range-straight drive, upper cut, on-the-to-back-foot punch, flick and paddle. The crowd threw the stadium and streaming platforms experienced a wind of the audience.
A hurry of leagues has sprouted to keep cricketers busy. England hosted the World Championship of Legends; America organized us Masters T20; The Legends League cricket tournament rebuilt Srinagar last October.
The story continues below this advertisement
Not only a cricketer and footballer, a swath of retired athletes appears worldwide in the game of exhibitions, which makes League of Legends a high-looking television/streaming products. Last year, Roger Federer entered the center court in Shanghai for a doubles match. He performed a little war with couple with singer Ison Chan and beaten China’s highest ranked tennis player Zhang Zizen and Table Tennis World Champion fan Zandong. His farewell game, also, was an exhibition game, when he was Tango with his friend and opposing Rafael Nadal against Jack Sock and Frances Tiafo in the 2022 Lever Cup in London. There are plans to organize an annual exhibition game between the two tennis great. Usain Bolt tracks and field exhibitions appear in a fleet of events from souls to playing cricket and playing football.
There is a deep appeal – the players are not from a distant past, but from recent vintage and thus both foreigners, cute and reliable. The attraction of a soil, unlike the elusive and distant areas, cried in his extreme professional years.
It is very rare coincidence that the league of exhibition sports and legends has become spiral after epidemic. During the epidemic and closed-down months with empty fields and galleries, broadcasters highlighted the power of apathy on the self-thinking audience with tireless diets of the stored games. Wimbledon was played on a loop, Ditto with IPL and Euro 2020 on a loop. The epidemic was a period of feeling for every business in the world, and the sports industry realized the infinite potential of retired players in the form of congestion, TRP-shooting proposals.
There has been an increased quality of a natural off-shooting competitions.
The story continues below this advertisement
These are not your standard old-timer fare, in which aging people try to relieve their moments of glory to entertain indifferently indifferent indifferent fans. But to get away from enough quality still to pant and pull wow. Xavi’s vision, the cunning of figs, even though it might have occurred 20 years ago, it created memories for the audience. And apathy, essence of exhibition-game industry.
