"I dreamed of meeting Totti"

Having grown up a fanatical Roma fan in Iraq, Ibrahim Daniel always dreamed of meeting his hero Francesco Totti.
He never imagined it would happen but when it was announced that Roma would be playing in Melbourne at the International Champions Cup Australia, he immediately booked a flight from Sydney, where he’s lived since 2001.

Desperate to meet his idol, he checked into the same hotel as the team and waited and waited. Then, after the game against Manchester City, he walked into the hotel elevator and it happened…

“Totti was literally right there, the whole team was,” 26-year-old Ibrahim recalls. “I said to Totti, I saw you last year in America and I showed him the photo of the game.

“Last year I spent $15,000 to go to America just to watch Roma and Real Madrid and I didn’t meet any of them.

“I asked him for a photo. He wasn’t in a good mood because they just lost but the whole team on the elevator started cheering and saying, ‘Come on Totti, he’s wearing a Totti shirt’.

“He said alright, we’ll take a photo - that was amazing.

“When I took the photo with him, I was shaking. My mouth went dry, my legs were shaking and when I posted the photos on Facebook, I got a million phone calls and messages.

“It was a dream come true. He is the reason why I’m into soccer and watch everything — it’s because of Totti. He’s a lovely man, he’s very humble, very caring, very affectionate and very passionate — he’s really loyal. I literally had a dream about this moment.”