FOXBOROUGH – When I was 8 years old, a Spanish friend of my dad gave me a present. It was a Lionel Messi FC Barcelona No. 10 jersey, with the club’s classic blue and red vertical stripes and the UNICEF sponsor across the front.

That jersey was my most treasured possession. I wore it on any special occasion at school. Shortly thereafter, my parents gave me a Lionel Messi biography – which was quickly devoured the day I got it. Immediately, I became a Barça fan.

Three years later, my family and I visited my dad’s friend in Spain, and he brought us to my first ever professional soccer game, an FC Barcelona match at their home stadium, Camp Nou. It was a formative experience in my young life.

Amidst a crowd of 100,000 Barcelona fans, I watched Messi score twice and lead Barcelona to a win. The stadium was alive. The atmosphere was unlike any I had ever experienced, and haven’t since. I’ll never forget that night. 

Fast forward to Saturday night, when Messi came to play with his Inter Miami squad against the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium. Messi scored twice, and led top-of-the-table Miami to a 4-1 win over bottom-of-the-table New England. 

Though 11 years passed between my two experiences watching Messi play in person – the first as a wide-eyed kid and the second as a sports reporter – the thrill was just the same. Under a sea of fans in pink Miami jerseys and blue and white Argentina strips, Messi dazzled as he always does. He pulled goals out of thin air and treated a sold-out crowd of 65,612 fans, many of whom were watching their first ever MLS game, to a match they won’t forget for a long time.

Traffic went one-way on all four lanes of Interstate 495. On the way into the game, I witnessed a parade of fans walking over a mile along the side of the highway to catch a glimpse of the sport’s greatest jewel. Kids wore head-to-toe Messi Inter Miami gear, from the jersey down to the socks. I’ve never seen so many No. 10 jerseys as I did Saturday night.

And for the fans who spent hundreds of dollars on tickets and hours waiting for the moment to arrive, the game did not disappoint. New England scored 42 seconds in, but from then on, it was all Miami.

On every touch, Messi drew oohs and ahs from the crowd. And in the 32nd minute, when he exploited a crack of space to deftly sidestep a defender and slot the ball into the back of the net, the crowd roared. 

Thirty-six minutes later, he did it again, this time with help from Sergio Busquets, his old Barca teammate and a friend of 20 years. Messi pierced through the middle of the Revolution back line on a perfectly timed run, and just as they had when I was 11 years old, Busquets and Messi combined for a clinical finish.

Xavier Arreaga, playing in his Revolution debut, was a little starstruck.

“That kind of play, that’s why he’s the best one,” Arreaga said. “He can find that space that I think another player can’t find. Obviously, they have a great player like Busquets, it’s perfect between (him and Messi).”

Just a few minutes before full time, when it seemed our Messi experience had finally come to a close, he gave fans one more bit to remember. After a nice cut inside at the top of the box, Messi left the ball for Luis Suarez, another old Barcelona teammate and close friend. Suarez fired it into the top right corner. 

My childhood self was over the moon.

Connor Pignatello is a Gazette sports reporter. He can be reached at cpignatello@gazettenet.com