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New York (AFP) – Franco-Argentinian striker Gonzalo Higuain left the pitch for the last time on Monday, ending a prolific career that saw him win titles in Spain and Italy as well as reach the World Cup final with his country .
Higuain’s final game ended in a loss for his team Inter Miami to defending champions New York City in the Major League Soccer (MLS) play-offs, the North American championship. American he had joined three years ago, ending his hopes of winning another trophy.
“The dream is over, now another life begins,” he said at the post-match press conference.
The 34-year-old, born in Brest, western France, to an Argentinian father and footballer, had previously announced he would retire at the end of the season, but it ended early than he expected with a 3-0 loss at Citi Field in New York.
In the first half, Higuain saw his main chance dismissed for offside but Miami were largely outplayed and the former Real Madrid and Juventus striker crouched in silence for several minutes after the final whistle.
“I felt like what I loved was over,” he described to explain his emotions during this moment of contemplation.
“It’s been half of my life, a career of 17 years and images of my whole career have come to mind. But I’m leaving very happy because I gave everything until today and it is the most important,” he added.
The one who is nicknamed “El Pipita”, the nugget, stressed that his greatest pride was to have been a “good person with good values” throughout his career and affirmed that this quality was more important than any success on the pitch.
Having cut his teeth at River Plate in his native country, Higuain won three La Liga titles with Real Madrid, scoring 107 goals in 190 games, before joining SSC Napoli and registering 71 goals in 104 appearances. He then moved to Juventus and won two domestic doubles in his first two seasons.
With 31 goals in 75 appearances for Argentina, Higuaine helped the Albiceleste reach the World Cup final in 2014 and the Copa America final in 2015.
The striker has made it clear he has no intention of following in the footsteps of his brother Federico who also finished his career in MLS and is now a coach at Inter Miami, but said he would interested in a retraining in “mental coaching”.
“It’s the most important part of the game. You can have all the skills and all the talent but if you’re not mentally well, it doesn’t matter much,” he said.
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