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 in 2008.

“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.