I looked on as dusk took over and the lights flickered on at Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracana Stadium on the eve of the 2014 FIFA World Cup opener against Bosnia, Argentina was taking to the pitch.
After years of watching him on television, that evening I saw Lionel Messi, in the flesh, for the first time as he emerged from the tunnel to train.
As I watched him, it quickly became clear then that he would be the axis on which Argentina would play at the World Cup.
Reporting on my first FIFA World Cup for DAWN, and just arriving at Rio after a spectacular opening match in Sao Paulo, as a sports journalist from Pakistan, I really did feel like I was living the dream.
Until, I watched Messi train.
True to form, a day later against Bosnia, Messi was majestic at the Maracana — setting up Argentina’s opener and then scoring a brilliant second, with a goal all of us, inside the stadium, and all around the world wanted; to secure a 2-1 win.
I had watched Messi’s wizardry on television during the years I was also pursuing my dream of being a football journalist. At the stadium, I was transfixed — he was just magical to watch.
After the game, he appeared at the post-match news conference to which I had rushed to early and taken a seat in the front row. Less than six feet away from me, he accepted his man-of-the-match award.
As the news conference neared an end, I turned to my friend Dhiman Sarkar of the Hindustan Times sitting beside me: 'Should I ask him for an autograph?' Dhiman replied, 'Worth a try!'
Just as Messi got up from his seat, a horde of journalists from the back rushed to the elevated platform on which he stood. There goes my chance, I thought dejectedly, moving ahead to join the crowd nonetheless.
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Soon enough, I was behind an Argentinean journalist who was getting a replica shirt signed. He wheeled off in celebration after getting the autograph, and then, Messi and I were face-to-face.
He took my notebook, smiled — maybe at how ill-prepared I’d come for an autograph with the other journalists all bringing their Argentina and Barcelona jerseys — and signed it.
Following that game, I wouldn’t cross paths with Argentina and Messi until their round-of-16 match against Switzerland in Sao Paulo.
Even then, he proved to be the difference. Messi had been the biggest star of the World Cup, scoring four goals in the group stage, and then against the Swiss, he provided the pass for Angel Di Maria’s extra-time winner.
He was leading Argentina towards their third World Cup crown and discussions at the media centre now centered on whether that achievement would see him eclipse Diego Maradona and enter a pantheon of greats who have won it all; both club and country.
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At this World Cup, Messi also put to rest the notion that he doesn’t perform for Argentina the way he does for Barca.
In the bitter cold at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo during Argentina’s semi-final win over the Netherlands, I saw Messi’s wide smile as the Albiceleste won the penalty shootout.
Just 90 minutes away from winning his first major title with Argentina, this was his date with destiny, his chance at football immortality. The final at Maracana was set up only for Messi, it seemed.
But against Germany, he couldn’t drag Argentina past the finish line.
The debate, which he looked poised to end, started afresh:
“Maradona and Messi … no comparison,” former Chile star Ivan Zamorano told me after the final.
In his shock announcement after the Copa America Centenario final loss to Chile yesterday, I can only hope to see him in an Argentina shirt again as I rue a missed chance.
Last year, I received the accreditation to cover the Champions League Final in Berlin — involving Messi’s Barca and Juventus.
Messi playing for a Barca shirt? I wasn't going to say no to that.
But my hopes were swiftly dashed by the required visa time demand of the German Consulate in Karachi.
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I might live to regret that if Messi were to announce retirement from club football also because he was the star of the final. Covering a match featuring Messi’s Barca remains on my bucket-list.
The loss to Chile came exactly a year after Argentina had lost to the same opponents — that too on penalties — in the final of the Copa America. With a third final loss in three years, I believe Messi’s decision has come in the heat of the moment.
With the FIFA World Cup in Russia just two years away, I, and millions of football fans around the world, hope Messi reconsiders his decision and takes a final shot at the world title in 2018.
If he doesn’t, those four matches in Brazil, and his autograph will be my lifelong consolation.