To me Zanetti represents the joy of living, the joy of making football your job every morning. He is the smile, the life force, the passion for training, the good cheer for everyone who works with him. To me Javier Zanetti is all of these things, and he is a man that I'm happy to say will be a friend forever.
After all of that, and a long way behind, comes the footballer. But having been his coach for only two years of his incredible career, it's not my place to talk about a man who has written his own story - and what a marvellous story it is. All I will say is thank you for everything, thank you for giving me a small space in your story. What I will cherish most is that hug in the middle of the Santiago Bernabeu: it won't be the last but it was certainly the most intense of our two years together.
Perhaps one day somebody might beat Zanetti's record, but there will only ever be one Zanetti.