The snowfall that deprived Borja Bastón of 'his' FIFA World Player

On December 21, 2009 a great snowfall fell on Madrid which caused the closure of the Barajas Airport for several hours. That inclement weather prevented Borja Bastón from attending the FIFA World Player gala, to which he attended as an official guest for having been the Golden Boot of the U-17 World Cup. The storm forced the cancellation of 223 flights that were supposed to leave Barajas Airport. One of them was the one who was going to take the then Atlético del Madrid youth squad to Zurich, where the annual FIFA awards ceremony was held.

Messi was proclaimed the winner of the FIFA World Player that year, beating Cristiano, who was second, and Xavi, who finished third. This was to be the first great ceremony of Borja Bastón, who was then 17 years old and he was accompanied by his parents. The Leganés forward today arrived at Barajas Airport early in the morning of that December 21 full of enthusiasm for the experience he imagined living. However, as the hours passed and flight cancellations increased, Bastón's hopes of sharing a gala with Cristiano, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta … also faded.

After ten hours of endless waiting, the Barajas Airport reported the definitive cancellation of the flight that was to take to Bastón and his family to Zurich and the impossibility of offering him an alternative route. That was the end of the forward's dream of experiencing the great gala of world football in the first person.