From playing against Messi & Ronaldo to non-league

Fernando Forestieri has gone from playing in the top leagues in Italy and Spain to signing for Oxford City [Oxford City] A Saturday afternoon in October at the Hebburn Sports and Social Ground, Tyne & Wear. Some Hebburn Town fans are already heading for the exits as Oxford City, 3-0 up in the 81st minute, send on their new signing. Fernando Forestieri has shared pitches with Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and played in front 72,000 fans at Real Madrid's iconic Bernabeu Stadium. On this occasion, in English football's sixth tier, there are 873 supporters present to witness Oxford City's new Argentine number 15 come on for his debut. "It was like a tennis match, the ball going one way one second, then the other way the next," Forestieri, 36, told BBC Sport after his new club, nicknamed the Hoops, secured a seventh win in 11 games to sit third in National League North. On Friday, Oxford City host Leicester City in the first round of the FA Cup (19:45 GMT), with former Watford and Sheffield Wednesday forward Forestieri looking to inspire the non-league club to a famous win over the League One Foxes. It is 10 years since Leicester famously won the Premier League title. In the same season Forestieri was helping Sheffield Wednesday reach the Championship play-off final, where the Owls lost to Hull City at Wembley. "There's a big gap between what Leicester did 10 years ago and where they are now," he said. "Why can't Oxford City cause an upset? This is what the FA Cup is all about." Forestieri ready for fresh challenge at Oxford City Forestieri encountered Barcelona, Messi and Ibrahimovic while playing for Malaga in Spain's top flight in 2009-10. Meanwhile, he shared the same pitch with Ronaldo as recently as five years ago when Juventus played Forestieri's Udinese team in Serie A. "You never forget being on the same pitch as these big players," added Forestieri, whose CV includes scoring against Inter Milan for Siena. "Messi, Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic... unbelievable skills. "I'm very lucky. Being that close to them you remember their first touch, their vision." Forestieri grew up playing football on the streets of Rosario - the same city in Argentina Messi was born - and idolised Diego Maradona. When Maradona died in 2020, Forestieri wrote a tribute to the 1986 Argentina World Cup winner on the back of his Udinese shirt. "Growing up in Argentina, everyone pretended to be Diego," he said. "He was a hero to everyone. On every corner of every street someone painted his face on a wall." Talking about his childhood, Forestieri said: "I was born poor, born with nothing. "I lived with my mum and dad and two brothers. The five of us slept in one room." Rosario was a dangerous area and Forestieri's brother, Maximiliano, was shot and wounded. "Thankfully he survived," said Forestieri, who was part of the academies of famed Argentine clubs Newell's Old Boys and Boca Juniors. Aged 16, he moved to Italy and quickly made his senior debut for Genoa. He qualified to play for Italy through his grandfather and turned out for the Azzurri at youth levels. Twenty years after his senior debut for Genoa, and after recent spells in Malaysia and Cyprus, he is still playing - albeit in non-league, after returning to England following the birth of his third son, Luciano. Forestieri (left) aged 18, in action for Siena against AC Milan's Andrea Pirlo in 2008 [Getty Images] So, how did his move to Oxford City come about? Forestieri was at Watford at the same time as Hoops boss Ross Jenkins, while Oxford City assistant manager Paul Robinson is also a former Hornets player. He trained with the PFA as part of their pre-season programme for players without a club before getting a call from Robinson. "Robbo said: 'why you don't come here to help us? We'll help you to become fit'," explained Forestieri. "For me this is a big change. But I'm so happy to be at Oxford City. They are an ambitious club and I want to help them as much as I can." Forestieri paid tribute to Diego Maradona on the back of his Udinese shirt following the death of the Argentina legend in 2020 [Getty Images] The player, who is also taking his coaching badges, lives in north London with his wife, Andria, and their two other sons Santiago, aged nine, and Maximiliano, aged six. "I still have passion for football," he added. "Whenever I'm walking in the park with Santiago and we see someone playing football, we stop and join in. That's how much I still love football." After the money-spinning Leicester tie, which is expected to attract a 3,500 sell-out crowd, Oxford City make the long journey to the north-east to play Darlington in a league match next Tuesday. "You need to listen to your body when you reach 36," said Forestieri. "But I'm lucky to be still playing and that a club still wants me to play for them." A bitter end for Ronaldo - the icon who transformed Portugal Owner, businessman & player: Messi has big plans as a golden era ends Get football news sent straight to your phone