—Photograph by Sébastien Leban for TIME FranceThis article originally appeared in TIME FranceFor some time, we had been chasing his shadow—to understand the phenomenon; the player; the man; the initials; the name that has become an international brand that children chant at the top of their lungs all over the planet, especially in the United States, where his aura is on par with that of a head of state. A few days before he flies off for the Wor…