Messi waved from his hotel window, and the man beside him was not a teammate

The window opens. Lionel Messi leans out, smiling, in a beige Argentina training top.

Below him, a crowd of fans is singing happy birthday. It is 24 June 2024, and Messi has just turned 37. Argentina's squad is staying at a hotel in New Jersey during the Copa América.

Then a second man steps into the frame. He is in his fifties, in a blue striped shirt, and he is not wearing team kit. He throws an arm around Messi's shoulders, pumps his fist at the crowd and starts conducting the singing like it is his own party.

Messi just laughs and waves.

Who is the man next to Messi at the window?

His name is Cristóbal Soria. Fans in Spain call him "El tío", which means something like "the uncle" or "the guy".

He is not a player. He is not on the coaching staff. He is a Spanish TV pundit on El Chiringuito de Jugones, a loud late-night football show hosted by Josep Pedrerol.

The clip came back this week. One account shared it on 8 October in a thread of strange Messi videos, and wrote that you would not guess who shows up at his side in a thousand lifetimes. It has passed 5.4 million views. The original upload, from the night itself, already had more than 4.4 million.

People who did not know the story were baffled. People who did know it were crying with laughter.

Who is Cristóbal Soria?

Soria was born in Seville on 3 July 1969, according to Argentina's La Nación. Before TV, he worked in football for years.

He started as a referee in Spain's old third tier, Segunda División B. Then he spent 11 years as a field delegate at Sevilla FC. That is the person who handles match-day logistics for a club. La Nación says that is where he first got to know Messi, who played against Sevilla many times with Barcelona.

Photo: Niels98 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

After Sevilla, he moved into sports TV and landed a seat on Pedrerol's show. There he became known for two things. He attacks Real Madrid, and he defends Messi, every time, against everyone.

He calls himself Messi's "fan número uno", his number one fan. On a show built on shouting matches, that made him a favourite target for jokes.

How did Soria end up in Messi's hotel room?

He planned it. Days before the birthday, Soria told viewers he was flying to the United States for the tournament.

Then he called on Argentina fans to meet outside the team hotel at six in the evening on Messi's birthday, and to bring a cake. He said on air that he wanted the crowd to sing happy birthday so that Messi would come out to greet them.

It worked. Messi came to the window. And, according to La Nación, he had let Soria into his room to do it. How Soria got past team security has never been explained in detail, which only makes fans enjoy it more.

Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The party did not stop with Messi. Spanish site Qué! reports that Soria waved other players over. Leandro Paredes, Rodrigo De Paul, Ángel Di María and Giovani Lo Celso all came to the window. Soria mixed in with them like he was one more member of the squad.

The fans outside even got slices of cake.

What did Soria say about Messi afterwards?

Back on the El Chiringuito screens, Soria broke down in tears on live TV. His colleagues gave him a round of applause.

He called it the "momentazo" of the Copa América, the big moment of the whole tournament. He said he and Messi had talked "de sentimiento, de corazón", about feelings and the heart. He also said he wanted to stay for the next match, and for the final if Argentina got there.

Then came the line that made him famous all over again.

On the Argentine football association's official podcast, Soria said "Yo con Leo he estado próximo a la homosexualidad". In English, that is roughly "With Leo, I've come close to homosexuality." Qué! reports that the hosts pushed back and Soria laughed it off. Asked if he meant it romantically or just as a football fan, he shrugged and said he did not care and did not know the reason.

He also told a story about once saying something to Antonela Roccuzzo, Messi's wife. He says she just looked at him, and he laughed.

Why do fans keep joking about Soria and Messi?

Because Soria makes it easy. He has never hidden how much Messi means to him, and he says it in the most dramatic way possible.

Under the clip this week, fans swapped their favourite Soria moments. One called him one of the great strongholds of Messi fandom. Others simply wrote that they now understood the window clip perfectly.

The tone in the replies was warm, not cruel. Most people seemed to enjoy that one of football's biggest fans got the moment every fan dreams of.

Photo: Sebas / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

What happened the next day?

The next night, Argentina played Chile at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. ESPN lists the crowd at 81,106.

It was a tight, nervy game. Lautaro Martínez scored late, in the 88th minute by ESPN's count, and Argentina won 1-0. The win sent them into the quarter-finals.

So the birthday visit came with a happy ending. Soria got his window, and Messi got his win.

Why is the clip back now?

Timing. This week, Messi played what he called his last game for Argentina. He cried before kickoff and signed off with a penalty in front of more than 85,000 people in Buenos Aires. In a week when English football is busy with the fight over Manchester City's punishment, Argentina fans just wanted to remember.

When a legend says goodbye, people go looking for their favourite memories of him. Some pick the World Cup final. Some pick the free kicks.

A lot of people, it turns out, pick the night a Spanish TV pundit talked his way into Messi's hotel room, threw an arm around the greatest player of his generation and led a whole street in happy birthday.

Messi never looked annoyed. He looked delighted. For Soria, the man who spent years defending Messi on TV, that grin at the window was worth more than any argument he ever won in the studio.