I don’t remember another time in the history of football when a foreign and opposing goalkeeper made the cover of Globo, carried away by the triumph. Especially in a title dispute with Flamengo. I lived to see this. The unknown Safonov deserved it. He saved four of the five red and black penalties. This is a rare feat, with a philosophical dimension.
It was then that I thought of Albert Camus. Anyone who loves football and philosophy knows that the Franco-Algerian, author of “L’Étranger”, was a young goalkeeper for Racing d’Alger. “What I know most about morality and human obligations I owe to football,” said Camus. “Football is intelligence in motion.” He wrote about the loneliness of the goalkeeper. “The ball never gets where we expect it to.”
Russian Matvei Safonov, 26, denied Camus during the match in Doha. The Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper seemed to know where the ball would go. A face towel, with tips from the coach on batsmen, helped him bet on the right side. The magic towel does not invalidate the precision of the young goalkeeper who replaced the injured starter, Lucas Chevalier, one of the best in the world. Have confidence in yourself.
Safonov became, during the last penalty shootout, for the intercontinental club championship, the unlikely hero of PSG. The 1.91 m Russian wall. The executioner. The executioner of Flamengo, Brazil’s largest fan base. It was an optional place in Rio. And the city then heard a sepulchral silence, a sadistic pleasure for the other fans, who could sleep in peace.
The philosopher Camus came from a poor family in Algiers. He had played goalie since he was a child, it was the position that required the least new shoes. And this freed him from his grandmother’s scolding. Being a goalkeeper was for Camus a metaphor for the human condition, the search for meaning in the absurdity of existence. The goalkeeper goes from heroism to failure in a matter of seconds. And vice versa.
During his visit to Brazil in 1949, Camus’s first request was not to go to Christ the Redeemer. But watch a football match. He knew our love for sport. And this feeling has been with him since he was a child. He was the son of a farmer, who died in the war when he was one year old. His mother, a housekeeper, worker and illiterate, supported the family. Camus switched from football to writing due to tuberculosis at the age of 17.
His vision of the goalkeeper position mixes with his vision of life. A strange sight. I recently saw the new version of “The Stranger”, a film by François Ozon based on the work of Camus and shot in black and white. The apathy of the protagonist, Meursault, in the face of everything, the death of his mother and his unprovoked crime, shocks us.
Safonov was the ‘cold stranger’ after the incredible performance in Doha. He appeared to be carrying out a premeditated criminal plan. Composure should be a prerequisite for a good goalkeeper. Especially at these times. The penalty is practically a certain goal. So much so that the supporters are already celebrating when he is scored, before the hit: 85% are converted.
This killer statistic makes the goalkeeper a loner. Ten players form a team, exchange passes, help each other with throws, support each other in individual errors. But there is only one guardian. Only he can use his hands. Only he chickens without help or forgiveness. The German writer Peter Handke wrote “The Death of the Goalkeeper Before the Penalty”, adapted for the cinema by Wim Wenders.
The Russian Safonov died and revived, impassive, after each charge. Carried in jubilation by the team, he looked like a sphinx, shocked by the unusual. He only really smiled widely when he lifted the trophy. It was his star hour.
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