Perhaps the ultimate football remembrance is a Lionel Messi jersey, and one fortunate Curacao player was able to obtain one.
After being humiliated 7-0 by the World Cup champions on Tuesday, Curacao’s players were eager to get their hands on Messi’s shirt.
At the Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudad, Messi scored a hat-trick while also scoring his 100th goal for his country, joining Cristiano Ronaldo in the milestone.
The legendary Barcelona player, who last week scored his 800th and 102nd goals in his career in a 2-0 victory against Panama, scored all three of his goals in 17 minutes.
In addition to Gonzalo Montiel, Nicolas Gonzalez, Enzo Fernandez, Angel Di Maria, and other World Cup champions scored goals against the Caribbean team.
The Curacao players requested Messi’s jersey before the game, and they were even ready to engage in combat to obtain it.
The fortunate one who managed to secure it was goalkeeper Eloy Room, who let up three goals to probably the finest player in history and seven overall. Room, a member of MLS team Columbus Crew, was delighted when he claimed the garment.
Room uploaded two photographs on his Instagram story, captioning the garment with “dreams come true.”
Later, the 34-year-old said he would sleep with it so that no one would try to take it from him. “The Messi jersey, it’s pretty remarkable,” he said.
“Unbelievable, like a dream come true. Messi is adored by everyone and I’ve played against him now. He scored goals against me, but I also stopped several of his fantastic shots. It was a hard game. He also said that I had made several nice saves after that, so I appreciate it.”