Ama Maria was the happiest woman in the world. It was her little boy who scored the goal of Athletic Club - the only team he ever wanted to play for - in the Supercopa de Espaa finals. And that, that was her little boy too, down with her. Nico Williams' mother was there to watch the moment the 19-year-old guide a gorgeous shot in front of Jan Oblak, tears welling up in her eyes; His brother was also there. Inaki Williams plays with him, as he always does.
What do all these words mean? What good can they do when the picture depicts a million of them, more dynamic than they could ever hope to be? Just look at it, feel it. See also through it, whatever is beyond, whatever it conveys, whatever it means, everything that led to it in the first place to make it possible. One Target celebration that was so much more was everything.
When the ball hit the back of the Atletico Madrid net, the Athletic's players simultaneously hugged Nico, the youngest of them: he's a special kid they've known for years, since he was little. One of them burst into pride and began to back away a little. He waited because he was right and wanted him to be right. Just a little more; It's been two decades to come, time to pause this moment. When the others were finished, standing a little behind to watch, proud of them too, Inaki hugged her brother. Difficult.
SI TE QUIERO MÁS ME MUERO ❤️🩸🤩 pic.twitter.com/0sHujWOA8A
— IÑAKI WILLIAMS (@Williaaams45) January 13, 2022
Inaki lifts Niko in the air, lifts her legs off the floor and holds her there, hanging still, her younger brother, whom she had previously picked up and has now picked up. "If I loved you any more, I would have died," he later wrote on social media. "I love you, always together," Nico replied.
When it was finally over, they went to the stand and began to find their mother, their ama. He was holding his sister when the round happened; Now, he had held his boys. "Chief", as Inaki calls him. "She was very emotional," said Nico. "He told me I deserve it—and to keep working, to never give up." which he feels. The matriarch whose Inaki said that, when he gets a little slack or a little rested, gives him some hostias ("whacks") to roll up his sleeve. The mom who never turns off the phone leaves voice messages full of advice so long that she laughs.
The woman who sat him down one day at the age of 20, and told him the whole story from where it all began.
"And when I heard it, I got chills, like: 'Whoa,'" Inaki recalled. "It's something that makes you want to fight even more to try to return all the sacrifices your parents made for us. I couldn't repay it in my entire lifetime. "
It was as close as he could ever wish to come. This was not the first goal Nico Williams had scored for Athletic, and they are not the first brothers to play professional football together. But there's something particularly symbolic about them, something historical about what they did, something different about their club and their importance there, and something different about their relationship. something deep. And if it was Nico's third goal - he scored two goals in the Copa del Rey against Mancha Real last week - it was the first goal he scored with his brother on the pitch.
A few days earlier, in the build-up to the Supercopa semi-final against Atlético, Iaki stated that he would prefer Nico, rather than scoring the winning goal.
And so it was.
"I've long dreamed of living this moment with my brother," Nico later said, looking like a child and feeling like he was essentially still. "What I carry with me is hugs with my mother and brother. I am so emotional to be able to share this moment with my brother and I hope there can be more." "
Must be at 19. But maybe there is none like that.
When Niko and Inaki's parents came to Spain, they crossed the Sahara in a pickup truck and on foot: their father Felix had trouble walking, had burns on the soles of his feet. They climbed the fence in Melilla, Spain's North African enclave. Inaki later reminded her of taking her mother and Niko on vacation to Dubai, and when she saw the dunes she burst into tears – the wide, empty swath of sand reminded her of that crossing.
He had nothing at the time, and some of those accompanying him from Ghana did not make it. Detained, they escaped exile by saying they had survived the Liberian civil war, and with the aid of the charity Caritas, the Williams family ends up in Bilbao: the Basque Country. Maria was pregnant with Inaki, and it was here that she was born. "Luck," he calls it. Athletic is of course a club with a Basque-only policy; Had he been born elsewhere, he would not have been able to play for them, and nothing like that would have happened. A local priest named Inaki gave him clothing and support. He also gave a name to Maria's eldest son.
The family was given social housing in Pamplona, neighboring Navarra. "There were so many immigrants, so many different races," Inaki recalls, "It was a humble, hardworking barrio, where people tried to find a way to meet their needs in any way they could." He didn't have much. Felix did whatever he could. He was a shepherd for some time and later moved to London in search of work: security guards, cleaners, baggage handlers, whatever else he could find. The tearing down of tickets for Chelsea games, overseeing the gates of Stamford Bridge, was one of the many things he did.
"When he went, I was 11 or 12, I'm not sure, and things were very bad in Spain. My dad lost his job, my mom went without work for a while. My younger brother was younger : 2, 3 years old," Inaki recalled. Felix had been there for a decade, the family was lucky if they saw him once a year. Maria worked every hour, providing any job - two or three at a time. All of this made Inaki more than a brother to Niko: he was his caregiver, his guardian, his role model, a father figure. He would pick her up in the morning, dress her up, take her to school, bring her home, feed her.
He also played football and, curiously, served as a referee for some time. There are pictures of Iaki as a little boy in a sparse flat and an athletic shirt, an old television balanced on an industrial reel: this was his goal and, inspired by his older brother, would become Niko's as well.
It exerted a powerful pull on him and it had a huge impact. His family journey has been long and difficult. His story is deeply personal and unique, but it resonated with many others beyond the sport. It inspired too. Inaki was only the second black footballer to play for Athletic, a man who was more aware of his social significance, his symbolism, his voice. Niko, trying to join him, is now the third, imitating him.
When Inaki made his debut for Athletic, Niko was only 12 years old. Iaki said to Marca a while back, "Nico respects me a lot." "It's like he was my son: I paid attention to him, treated him with baby gloves. I try to give him advice. It's hard for him to see his brother in the first team and get there." There is pressure. A lot is expected because he has a good attitude and quality but I always tell him that it is like birds that can fly at any moment and all he has to do is prove to every game that he can climb."
Nico Williams climbed into his brother's lap on Thursday night, 4,000 miles from home. Standing up in the athletic shirt they've always dreamed of wearing, Maria cried as she hugged her little boys, grew up and held each other as tight as ever.