The intimacy of the birthday of Dibu Martínez’s son: with Mbappé, Cristiano and a greeting from Messi :: Olé

For three years now, the number 23 of the Argentine National Team has had an owner and, also, an indelible history. The choice of the number was not left to chance: Damián Emiliano Martínez chose to stamp that number to remember June 23, 2018, when His life changed forever with the birth of his son Santiago.who this Sunday had a special celebration.

While the goalkeeper prepares in New Jersey to face the second challenge of Group A of the Copa América (it will be on Tuesday at 10 p.m. in Argentina against Chile), The little boy celebrated his sixth birthday in Birmingham, England. And, even though her father couldn’t give the present, he prepared a surprise for her from a distance that drove everyone present crazy.

Among the football details of the decoration, with an image of Kylian Mbappé and another of Cristiano Ronaldo near the main table, Santi’s smile stood out, who enjoyed the company of dozens of friends and some family members. “Happy birthday to you”, was the version they chose to celebrate the babywho was born in London.

But minutes before standing in front of the cake to blow out that golden candle shaped like a 6, Santi received a different gift. Through different videos, several of his loved ones who did not manage to get close to the party They recorded their greetings for the protagonist of the afternoon.

They all exploded the moment the image of the Draw was projected on the screen, who He sent some heartfelt words to his son: Such was the reaction of those present, that the speech was not even appreciated.

However, the real explosion came seconds later when Lionel Messi made a dedication to him from the privacy of the concentration of the Argentine National Team, where other world champions such as Lisandro Martínez, Cristian Romero, Leandro Paredes, Giovani Lo Celso, Nahuel Molina, Ángel Di María and Rodrigo De Paul also posed.

The day Santi arrived, Mandinha had to wait 30 hours in a public hospital in London. “30 hours of labor and then they left me to wait, wait, wait, and Santi’s heart stopped. And then it was an emergency cesarean section. It was very hard for me and it was a very difficult year,” the woman said some time ago.

Santiago Martínez was born in 2018, the same year that Dibu decided to overthrow prejudices and start a psychologist. “The problem is not that I’m not playing football. The problem is that I stopped watching football. The problem is that I feel like I’m stopping loving him,” he had told Mandinha, his wife and breadwinner.

The goalkeeper’s career at that time differed from what he had imagined at 12, when he left Mar del Plata and He lived uprooted to train in the Independiente Juniors: He was on loan at Getafe from Arsenal, who had taken over his pass.

A year after that milestone in his life, an injury to goalkeeper Bernd Leno opened an opportunity for him to take his place at Arsenal and he took full advantage of it. And, after 20 games as a starter, He understood that his place was far from the substitutes’ bench.

This is how, with the German’s return, Martínez decided to leave the club to look for filming elsewhere. But it was not one more step. Unlike his arrival in 2012, Dibu left more prepared both physically and mentally. Not only did I do therapy: I also took yoga and Pilates courses between training and training.

In 2020, Aston Villa spent around 20 million pounds to sign the goalkeeper. The rest of the story? It is already known…