The final meeting took place on a gray Wednesday morning in May 2013, exactly 24 hours after the ultimatum had been delivered.
The same sterile conference room that had witnessed months of systematic discrimination would now serve as the setting for the formal termination of Mateo's relationship with the club that had been his home for six transformative years.
The weather outside seemed to mirror the somber mood of the occasion, with low clouds hanging over Barcelona like a shroud. The Mediterranean, usually a brilliant blue, appeared gray and restless, as if nature itself was responding to the injustice about to unfold within the walls of the Camp Nou administrative complex.
Don Carlos had spent the intervening time consulting with legal advisors and exploring alternative options, but the conclusion was inevitable.
