The triumphant return from Istanbul was followed by a swift and grounding return to reality. The life of a seventeen-year-old prodigy was not just about dramatic Champions League nights and adoring fans; it was a relentless, exhausting, and often mundane balancing act. For Mateo, the victory over Galatasaray was not a license to rest on his laurels, but a signal that the demands on his time and energy were about to intensify.
His life was a carefully constructed Jenga tower of responsibilities, each block representing a crucial part of his existence. There was football, the all-consuming passion that demanded his physical and mental peak.
There was school, the non-negotiable requirement from both the club and Don Carlos, a reminder that his future was not solely dependent on his feet.
