Portugal fan to root for Croatia tonight

CHANDIGARH: Breaking flower pots and pestering neighbours is not new for this 13-year-old boy. Divij Bhonsle, a football fanatic from Panchkula is no less than Dennis the Menace in real. Sharing his latest debacles with TOI, Divij Bhosle said, “I just want to play football but everyone just seems to have a bone to pick with me.”
A die hard Portugal fan, he supported the Portuguese in the World Cup but was devastated when the team got eliminated.Firmly involved in the Messi-Ronaldo rivalry, he remarked, “All my friends in the school teased me when Portugal lost, but it made me glad to see Argentina make an early exit the same day.” An avid admirer of the Juventus FC star player Paulo Bruno Exequiel Dybala, he claims to have learnt how to play from his idol. “I was sad to see Dybala get only 22 minutes of play time in the FIFA World Cup. I will wait to cheer for my hero and idol in the next World Cup in 2022,” he asserted.
A student of Class VIII in Bhavan Vidyalaya, Chandigarh, he is currently attending Baichung Bhutia Football School in St. Soldier’s School, Sector 16, Panchkula. Despite Portugal’s loss, he believes that Croatians will transcend over the French in the finals today. “Croatians are the underdogs and I have faith in the team. They will definitely pull off something unexpected today,” he confidently proclaimed.
Divij has been watching football for over five years now and drives his inspiration to play from his elder brothers. “The culture of football has always existed in our family and I was ecstatic to watch Divij play in CFL 2018,” his mother shared with TOI.