MSD Survivor Invited To FC Barcelona's Champion's League Match
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - One of the world's most popular soccer teams has invited a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School survivor to their Wednesday's Champions League game.
FC Barcelona, the undisputed leader of Spain's 'La Liga' soccer league and candidate to win the current Champions League Cup of European clubs, invited Anthony Borges and his family to attend their game against French team Lyon.
The game was played at Barcelona's Camp Nou Stadium, which is considered to be a soccer cathedral.
Borges doesn't like to think about or talk about what happened at Stoneman Douglas last Valentine's Day. He's been hailed a hero for saving more than a dozen students that tragic day on the 3rd floor of the Freshman Building but these are matters he prefers not to discuss.
Before the shooting, Borges was on a career path to becoming a soccer player. In fact, he played for the FC Barcelona Academy in South Florida.
Borges was shot five times on that day.
Of the close on 100,00 fans who will fill Camp Nou this evening there is one who will experience the Champions League in a very special way. It will be his first game at the stadium after an event more than a year that changed his life.
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Borges and his family were given the hero's welcome in Barcelona, where they met the club's vice president, Jordi Cardoner.
If you are a soccer fan in South Florida during the last decade or so, chances are you were a fan of either FC Barcelona or a Real Madrid.
FC Barcelona has one of the world's most popular players in Argentine Lionel Messi. The team is filled with stars and their play has been described as magical.
Messi's left foot has been compared to a great artist's brush.
As for Borges, his focus remains on soccer and enjoying today's match.
Before the shooting, he and his family say he'd been invited to move to Spain to begin to train to be a professional soccer player.
Borges had lost about 45 pounds after the shooting and had been in the hospital for weeks.
Barcelona won the game by a score of 5-1. Messi scored twice and had two assists.
No doubt, Borges enjoyed every minute.
Borges received a signed jersey from the Barcelona stars.
