Just as Gonzalo Montiel’s penalty fooled Hugo Lloris and entered the goal, Neerjhor, an university student in Dhaka, leapt off his chair, screamed his heart out in elation and cried tears of joy.
Like millions across the world, he was overwhelmed by the rollercoaster of emotions of the FIFA World Cup 2022 final and was overjoyed seeing Argentina defeat France by the barest of margins and win their third World Cup.
This was not the first time a game of the Qatar World Cup made him teary-eyed as just a few days back, he was similarly in tears. But on that night, he shed tears of heartbreak.
Neerjhor was shattered after seeing Brazil, his favourite team in the World Cup, get eliminated from the quarterfinal after a gut wrenching defeat to Croatia in a penalty shootout.
However in the final, he supported Argentina, Brazil’s sworn ‘enemy’ in football. But why?
The answer to this question is quite simple and only requires two words.
Lionel Messi.
He is one of the many young Bangladeshis in their 20s that have grown up watching Messi perform his magic almost on a weekly basis for Barcelona.
Messi tiki-taka’d his way into Neerjhor’s heart and has remained their ever since.
But his devotion towards Messi clashed with his other love, Brazil.
Before he saw Messi make opponents chase his shadow, make every club in Spain and Europe look clueless and form a triumvirate with Neymar and Suarez, the likes of which the football world had never seen before, the Selecao had already booked a permanent place in his heart.
One of his earliest football memories was seeing a group of players wearing canary yellow celebrating with the World Cup trophy in hand.
He remembers a bald man with a patch of hair at the front of his scalp scoring goals for fun, he remembers a man with tall curly hair and with the biggest smile in the world dancing around other players, making them dance to his tunes.
He remembers his brothers, fathers and uncles, majority of whom were supporters of Argentina, being in awe of Brazil, begrudgingly accepting their greatness.
Neerjhor, a kid who was unaware of any of the intricacies of the beautiful game, subconsciously pledged a life-long allegiance to Brazil, a pledge he never even thought of breaking, not even for Messi.
But this has caused a predicament for Neerjhor and other like-minded fans. Since 2006, in every four years, he and other Messi-mad Brazil fans have been going through an inner turmoil.
They want to see Brazil lift the trophy, more than anything else. But at some deep, hidden crevice of their heart, they also want to see Messi get his hands on the trophy and end the greatest of all time debate for once and for all.
However, both of their desires would remain unfulfilled for four editions, until the Qatar World Cup rolled along in 2022.
Brazil’s latest bid for the World Cup started brightly and the squad had everything needed to lift the coveted trophy for the sixth time.
However, a mixture of misfortune and woefully wrong tactics ended Brazil’s journey at the quarterfinals. Brazil couldn’t hold onto their one goal lead against Croatia in the last 15 minutes of extra time and ended up on the losing side of a penalty shootout.
The defeat was a hard pill to swallow for Brazil fans, who were waiting expectantly for ‘Mission Hexa’ to reach its culmination.
That same night, Messi was also inches away from elimination. But fate didn’t let down the maestro from Rosario, as the Albiceleste scraped past the Dutch in an intense quarterfinal that was decided on penalties.
Argentina’s win and Brazil’s defeat saved many Messi and Brazil fans from having to support one and abandon the other in a World Cup semifinal.
However, Messi’s win, in a way, also added to the inner turmoil for fans like Neerjhor. He wanted Messi to accomplish the only thing he hadn’t achieved in his illustrious career. But supporting the indigo-white team just didn’t sit well with the die-hard Brazil fan inside him.
That turmoil remained as the final rolled along. But right after Mbappe scored twice out of the blue to make it 2-2, something inside him changed. He knew who he was supporting now.
His love for Messi won over his aversion of Argentina and for the first time in his life, he was at the corner of the Albiceleste.
So, when Argentina finally won in a final that is being hailed as the greatest final in the history of the World Cup, he was overjoyed, hugging every Argentina fan he can find and celebrating their win late into the night.
However, now that the World Cup is over, one question arises. Will Neerjhor and fans like him switch their allegiance to Argentina?
Neerjhor, as a representative of that group, had an unequivocal answer.
“Never! Brazil is in my blood! Even if they don’t win for a 100 years, I will never stop supporting Brazil.”
“But, what about your Facebook profile picture, where Messi is holding the trophy?” I asked.
“That’s just temporary. I'll change it in a week.”