In the dead of night, Amitabh Bachchan was among the countless die-hard fans glued to their screens, watching Argentina sweat through one of the wildest matches of the tournament so far. The match against debutants Cabo Verde kicked off around 3:30 am IST at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, and by the time it ended, defending champions Argentina had edged out 3-2 after extra time.
Somewhere between the goals and the drama, Bachchan couldn’t resist reaching for his phone. He posted on X mid-match, capturing exactly what every bleary-eyed fan around the world was thinking: “T 5791 – What match is being played in WC26!!!"
This isn’t a one-off fling with the sport. Football clearly runs in the family. Son Abhishek Bachchan has long championed his love for the game, and the senior Bachchan has quietly kept pace with international football for years, popping up whenever the big names take the field. In 2023, he had his own starstruck moment, meeting Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in Riyadh at an exhibition match between Paris Saint-Germain and the Saudi All-Star XI.
Cabo Verde’s fairytale World Cup debut ends here, but the minnows leave with their heads held high, having earned admirers worldwide for punching well above their weight. Argentina live to fight another day, and next up is Egypt in the Round of 16.
As for Bachchan, 3:30 am and a nail-biting extra-time finish was clearly worth losing sleep over. Football fever, it seems, spares no one, not even Bollywood’s biggest star.
