St Mirren star Keanu Baccus said his World Cup adventure was an almost perfect time on his triumphant return to Paisley. But the Australian midfielder revealed the only sore point of the entire trip was that his family weren't able to share his magic moments with him in Qatar.
The 24-year-old Buddie touched back down in Scotland on Monday, meeting his team-mates for the first time again yesterday when they welcomed him back to the SMiSA Stadium dressing room with a huge round of applause.
Baccus opened up on his entire World Cup experience, which saw him take on the likes of superstars Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Christian Eriksen in Doha. And while he will cherish every single encounter in Qatar, the affable Saints player admits the only way it could have been sweeter was if his parents and brothers could have been there to share it with him first-hand.
Baccus told Renfrewshire Live Sport: "I realise now that it's all about timing in football. Moving here to Scotland has gone perfectly, then getting into the Australia team. It's amazing and it was a surreal experience. I didn't expect it to go the way it went.
"My family spoke about it and it was expensive to go to Qatar, so I didn't get them over which was sad when I started against Argentina. I was like 'bam', I wish I could have experienced that moment with my family. It would have been pretty special.
"But I'm sure they will be at the next one or the next Asian Cup. I got a bit sad after the first game where I thought they should have been there to share that moment with me.
"You realise as you get older it's a short career and family is the most important. They support you the most through the good and bad times. I wished they were there, but I realised it maybe made me stronger that they were not there and I was by myself.
"I'm here in Scotland by myself and it's made me stronger, but I will appreciate those moments when my family are there.
"They've done everything for me: driving me around when I was younger, spent hours, countless amounts of petrol and money on me and taken care of me and feeding me well.
"All that little stuff you probably don't think about when you are a young kid. You realise those moments should be shared with everyone. But you learn and hopefully it'll happen at the next tournament."
While Argentina ultimately ended Australia's sensational run to the last 16, Baccus was understandably still in awe of taking on football icon Lionel Messi. The Buddie didn't shy away from the challenge, putting in a number of tackles on the former Barcelona legend.
Baccus knew he was in the presence of football royalty, adding: "It was surreal how good he actually is. The way he sees the game, and takes it on himself.
"It's very special. Not many people can take the ball anywhere on the pitch and back yourself and be confident to go at people and take them on.
"I was trying to watch over my shoulder to see where he was and what he was doing. He's just special. To be honest, he looks fake on the field. A bit like a wax statue, to be honest. I was trying to learn from him but it's hard when you're in the thick of the action.
"He just looks surreal. There's not a blemish on his face. He's a bit older now, and I don't mean this disrespectfully, but he's not moving as quick as he used to. And yet still he's very, very quick.
"Imagine what it was like a couple of years ago. You end up thinking you shouldn't be so close to him. He's such an icon to the Argentine fans. It's crazy to see the passion they have towards him.
"I didn't really stand in awe of him, though. I ended up kicking him a couple of times instead.
"I didn't mean to hurt him but I'm a front foot player and I wanted to stick to him and the whole team and show we're there to compete.
"We got a bit of stick after the photo from folk saying we shouldn't have done it but it's Messi at the end of the day. We did our best but we also respected the fact he's probably the best player to ever play the game along with Ronaldo."
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