Riyadh, day 6 - Tomorrow

The shoes are in their proper place. Ordered, prepared, ready to be worn. The pitch is perfect, and the equipment is arranged with care. Markers, silhouettes, balls, obstacles. There's perfect precision, everything is where it should be. It happens every day, it's a beautiful and useful routine, not to be taken for granted.   At 16:30 CET in Riyadh, the sun begins to set. A gentle breeze accompanies the shadows lengthening on a field that has become familiar: concrete stands, a shining green lawn, the sun illuminating it halfway. The team always arrives at the moment when the light filters through the high-rises, offering the last warmth of a day about to become night.   Everyone has their ritual, their methods, their exercises. There's a team, around the team, that knows every need to the millimeter, tailoring it to each player: it's one of the moments of the day when all the energy, all the attention, is focused. First at the hotel, the studying, the film, the rest, and then when the lights shine the brightest.     There are smiles and focused faces, there are challenges born for fun that gradually become more exhilarating. Shouts, laughter, hugs, the sound of the ball kicked with force, the goalkeepers' flights, the coach's voice. Meanwhile, the sun descends, the patterns repeat, and the legs move fast.   Not every day is the eve of a final. In Riyadh, after days that resembled each other, the last night has arrived. Tomorrow, they return to the field, tomorrow Inter plays.