Dear Leo,

Congratulations on beating us to reach another Champions League final. You caused me great embarrassment in the first leg of our semifinal, but I just wanted you to know that there are no hard feelings and I am honored to have shared the pitch with you once more.

I look forward to watching you in the final and I wish you the best of luck. As for me, I will be watching at home with my World Cup winner’s medal, which, by the way, is still damp with your tears from that day.

As you and I both know, winning the Champions League is great. But winning the World Cup is a feeling that all the jokes and insults on the internet about you making me fall down can’t ever dampen. Maybe one day you’ll get to experience that feeling too. Or maybe not. All I know is that I have and it’s so much better than living with the constant regret of coming so close to winning it an not quite being able to do it.

So, again, good luck in the final, the World Cup trophy says hi, and there are no hard feelings on my end whatsoever.

Yours truly,

Jerome Boateng, forever a World Cup winner

P.S. Enclosed is a picture that you can frame and put beside your bed. You know, so you have something to stare at when you’re awake at night, thinking about that fateful day in Brazil again and again. You’re welcome.