In the
faked interview transcripts which were 'done' with the former Romania footballer Miodrag Belodedici earlier this year, he went into some detail about the most momentous event of his childhood.
Belodedici recalled, as a five-year-old living on the border between Serbia and Romania, watching the Yugoslav cup final on television, and how he had been swept away with emotion as Red Star Belgrade carried off the trophy.
That day, the 'baby' Miodrag, as he called himself, made it his life's ambition to play football for the biggest club in the old Yugoslavia - and he did so, with his crowning glory coming in Bari in the spring of 1991 as Red Star (or Џрвена Звезда*, Crvena Zvezda, as they are known in Serbia) became European champions - the only team ever to do so from the Balkans.
So this much we know: Belodedici dreamt, and Belodedici eventually did, like a fairytale. When I spoke to him, though, he was less forthcoming about the pressure, both internal and external, that existed as he lived through his greatest night in southern Italy.
It must surely have been there, and he must surely have felt it. I understand pressure and expectation and hope and other such intangible things to be as all-encompassing as the pull of gravity, and I can appreciate how ruinous they are when not respected, or, accordingly, when respected too much.
So for Belodedici to be aware, in the European Cup final against Marseille, that one slip or misjudgement would cost Red Star everything - how did he carry that knowledge with him and manage to function normally? The team were playing anyway with a very defensive mindset; none of the players wanted to be the one who erred fatally and cost Red Star the tournament.
There was, then, a human frailty to the greatest club side the former Yugoslavia ever produced, a collective fear of being beaten. They had iron in the soul, and the unabashed brilliance which had humiliated Bayern Munich in the semi-final had been forgotten, to be replaced with this torpor.
They were not beaten, though, and a goalless draw after extra-time condensed the outcome of the final into a penalty shoot-out. Belodedici took Red Star's third kick, and scored. He was not the master of his own dream, but where he could steer it, he did. It was for Darko Pancev to convert the winning penalty, and to realise what, 20 years later, the fictional Belodedici said was his life's ambition.
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Pressure for Belodedici, then, is his life rearing up before his eyes as he prepares to take Red Star Belgrade's third penalty in the European Cup final.
Belodedici doesn't miss: he puts the ball in the corner and walks away with his fist pumping, a half-smile crossing his lips. It's placed so perfectly that the goalkeeper can't hope to get close to it, his fingers clutching at the air as the ball flies past him and inside the post.
Pressure for the rest of us comes in more everyday, but no less important, circumstances. I am reminded of this on today, December 5, the second anniversary of the last time I saw Bluefish. There was a moment of tension similar to that experienced by Belodedici as he stepped up to the penalty spot, when all concepts become one, the Perpignan which all roads thus far have led up to.
She and I had spent part of the morning in an antiques shop, and suddenly the impulse was upon me to act. My eye had seen it, and the impetus was there to act, and act immediately.
*I read earlier that, one day, it’s likely Serbians will have to vote on which alphabet(s) they want to use: Latin, Cyrillic, or both? I am already campaigning in my head for the retention of Cyrillic.