Last year, the footballer posted a photo of a DVD of the remastered edition of the anime’s first season, a cherished anniversary gift from wife Daniela Ospina. Life has mirrored fiction too. Tsubasa won the national tournament with fictional Nankatsu FC, lifted the Brazilian title with Flamingos, captained Japan to Youth World Cup triumph. Rodriguez, meanwhile, won the Argentine championship with Banfield, the 2011 Europa League with Porto and captained Colombia to the U-20 World Cup quarterfinals in the same year. Tsubasa joined Barcelona and Rodriguez was picked up by rivals Real Madrid, but unlike the former, the latter failed to become a mainstay in La Liga. After a sparkling start at the Bernabeu, Rodriguez fell out of favour with a squad brimming with talented midfielders such as Casemiro, Toni Kroos, Marco Asensio and Mateo Kovacic.