On our way to growth, football has accompanied us all the way, recorded our youth, left unforgettable memories, and witnessed our progress.
Looking back, where are the people who used to watch the game together. Do you remember the slam dunk master who made your blood boil when you were ignorant in your youth? Youth is dying silently, where are the people who were together now?
01. One of football's warmest moments: that firework at the Milan derby
When this time the Champions League semi-final will usher in the Milan derby, as old fans, we can't help but recall the scene 18 years ago.
The 2004-05 Champions League semi-finals were an event for the city of Milan and an unforgettable memory for countless fans.
In the first leg of the semi-finals 18 years ago, AC Milan won 2-0 to take the lead. In the second leg, it was still Shevchenko who took the lead, and the Rossoneri had already stepped into the threshold of the final.
Anxious Inter fans, after seeing Cambiaso's header score, but after being ruled invalid for crashing with the goalkeeper, finally could not suppress their resentment and threw fireworks into the stadium.
Obviously, Inter fans are better at their heads than their strikers. A burning red pyrotechnic stick smashed on the shoulder of AC Milan goalkeeper Dida.
The match was interrupted by a painful fall to the Brazilian goal, and Inter were also ruled to lose 3-0 after the match.
We can't remember who scored the goal, but the scene of AC Milan playmaker Rui Costa watching the fireworks side by side with Inter defence prize Matracci is destined to be one of the most romantic moments in football history.
How old were you that year? Is it also youthful? Who was by your side, watching the fireworks side by side? Time passes, when the Milan derby returns to the stage of the Champions League semi-finals, will the people and things that were once buried in the heart be remembered again?
02. In 18 years, will you take your children to watch football?
Football in the Chinese family 18 years ago may be a kind of sharing happiness and inheriting culture with the family.
The person who first took you to watch football and fell in love with football may be your father or grandfather.
This is an already different era, and the story of Maldini's ancestors passing on red and black for three generations on the football field is rare.
The pace of life is getting faster and faster, when you also become a father or mother and have your own children, will you take them to watch the ball?
"Having children and raising daughters all my life, my mind is full of children crying and laughing!" Where has all the time gone? If you take your children to watch a Milan derby 18 years later, you may be able to better understand the feeling of a father.
Raising children knows the grace of our parents, and we, once young, cannot understand what our father's teachings mean.
Only when he became a father did he understand that the eyes he used to have were not only stern, but also expected and spoiled.
03. Brother sleeping on my upper bunk: Where are you today?
Eighteen years ago, if it happened to be in college, most of the people watching the "Fireworks Derby" were their best brothers.
When the day comes to leave campus, you can only go your separate ways. Where are the brothers who used to watch the ball together?
Even in the past few years, some may have become passers-by or even enemies due to misunderstandings or contradictions.
However, time will eventually dilute many things, and it is not easy to meet on the road of life. The brother who once accompanied you through the bloody youth is one of the people who understand you best.
If there is still a chance to get together again, it is still brothers to meet and smile.
04. If I can't blush, can I still blush?
On the way to our growth, there will always be some "winners in life". Some people watch the game with their parents, some watch the fireworks side by side with their brothers in the same dormitory, and some people are surrounded by confidants.
18 years, maybe there is no contact for a long time. Was the girl who once walked into your life "hidden deep in your heart" and her name no longer mentioned?
The girl who watched the Milan fireworks with you that year, now has her own child, and will she still go to see the Milan derby?
On the road of youth, we have loved, missed, hated, and laughed. Looking back on the past, keep the "softness" in the bottom of your heart, close the valve of memory, and prevent it from flooding in your mind.
05. Slam Dunk is the flame of youth
Our youth is not only football, but also basketball. It used to be the golden age of Yao Ming's landing in the NBA, and it used to be the middle school years when he was in a hurry to go home after school and wait to watch "Slam Dunk".
Because if it's late, it may delay the opening theme song of Slam Dunk. In those years, the comics of "Slam Dunk" were only two pieces and two books.
After entering the university, the background music of QQ Space was the single "Until the End of the World" played on a loop. In addition to talking about football, I always talk to my brothers about when the national competition can go from comics to animation.
Looking back, we are still quite happy after the 80s. Caught up with the era of the only child, which also happened to be the most abundant era of football and basketball games, broadcast for free.
This time, the movie version of "Slam Dunk" brought countless "grandpa green returns" of the 80s and 90s. Like the Milan derby in the last four of the Champions League, it is a carnival night for middle-aged people, and it is a youthful memory that explodes.
Conclusion:
Time has taken away the simplicity of the past, and we no longer look up to the sky to talk about ideals. Under the erosion of time, familiar scenes and objects gradually become unfamiliar. In the vastness of things and people, the warmth of the heart is more worthy of our firm grasp.
Who stays by your side and me, reliving the good old days. In that light, you have to cherish what you have in the moment, because it is so hard-won.