Luis Enrique will return to Germany on May 31, ten years after winning the Champions League as coach. The new final will bring back memories - for many they would be terribly painful, but not for him.
The legendary football player and phenomenal coach in 2015, while Barcelona was celebrating a new European crown in Berlin, ran to his daughter Sana, who, with a smile, sincere as only children have, was waving the flag of the Catalan club.
Four years later, the images of happiness for Luis Enrique were replaced by sadness - his brave Sana, after five months of great struggle, could not win the battle against a dangerous disease - she passed away at the age of nine from bone cancer.
The heartbreaking moment, however, did not break her dad - he continued to fight and win for her, and this year he will have the opportunity to win the Champions League once again. Sana will not be physically by his side in Munich during the final with Inter, but the great fighter from Gijon knows that she is always there.
"I always remember that incredible photo with her and the flag from the Champions League final in Berlin. I hope I can do the same with Paris Saint-Germain - my daughter won't be there physically, but she will be there spiritually. And that's really, really important to me," said Luis Enrique.
The former Barcelona and Real Madrid player shared earlier this season how much he does not mourn her death but celebrates her life.
"Do I consider myself happy or unhappy today? Happy, of course - very happy. Many will say: But your daughter passed away at the age of nine. No, my daughter lived with us for nine wonderful years. We have thousands of memories of her, videos, incredible things," are the words of Luis Enrique that bring tears to my eyes, but above all that show how great people struggle when life is not so beautiful.
As he says this, the video follows a clip of Sana happily andShe is doing a gymnastic exercise in the yard, and her family is proudly filming and watching her.
"My mother couldn't keep Sana's photos in the house until I came and asked her, 'Mom, why aren't there any pictures of Sana?'"
Her answer was short and painful:
"I can't, I can't..."
Luis Enrique had the right message for her too.
"I told her: Mom, you have to put them up. Sana is alive. She may not be here physically, but her spirit is always with us. Because every day we talk about her, we laugh and we remember. I believe that Sana still sees us and that's why it's important to me what she thinks about how we survived all this."
Luis Enrique will return to Germany on May 31st, and little Sana will still be waving the flag for her dad somewhere in the sky.
Bonus video:
