Fernando Forestieri has faced Messi and Ronaldo, and now he wants to lead non-league Oxford City to a giant-killing over Leicester City in the FA Cup.
Few players in the non-league game can say they have shared a pitch with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Fernando Forestieri can, and he is hoping that big-stage experience helps Oxford City produce one of the FA Cup's great shocks against Leicester City.
The forward's career has taken him a long way from the lower-division grounds he now calls home. He has been through the demands of top-level European football, and he arrives at Oxford with the kind of pedigree that rarely appears this far down the pyramid.
That contrast is what makes the tie so compelling. Leicester bring Premier League quality and a squad built for the highest level. Oxford bring the underdog's freedom, a home crowd hungry for a landmark night, and a veteran who knows how big occasions feel.
The FA Cup has always thrived on moments like this, when a part-time dressing room can dream against full-time professionals. If Oxford are to pull it off, they will need discipline, courage and a touch of the magic Forestieri has carried through his journeyman career.
