Huge party and chaos – five million Argentines celebrate Messi and Co.
Argentina celebrates its world champions
Soccer World Champion Argentina has arrived home. Thousands of people celebrate their national heroes in the middle of the night. President Alberto Fernández even decreed a national holiday so the country could celebrate the victory.
The euphoria in Argentina is huge, everyone wants to take a look at the victorious national team and the cup. At 30 degrees and blazing sun, the fans waited for hours for their World Cup heroes. And cause chaos in the process.
An view of the enormous crowds, the fan parade to welcome the world champions in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, has been canceled. After the bus with the national team had hardly made any progress for several hours, the players left the vehicle at a sports facility on Tuesday and boarded two water police helicopters. There was a state of emergency in Buenos Aires around the return of the athletes: According to the police, around five million fans in the Argentine capital celebrated the soccer world champions around superstar Lionel Messi. The national team drove in the open-top bus on Tuesday afternoon from the grounds of the AFA football association outside the gates of Buenos Aires to the capital. In view of the huge crowd, however, the bus had only progressed at walking pace or sometimes not at all. President Alberto Fernández had ordered a national holiday for Tuesday so that the country could celebrate the historic victory.
Chaotic scenes played out in the Argentine capital. Fans flocked to bridges and the city highway, many climbed traffic lights and traffic signs. At around 30 degrees, the fans waited for hours in the blazing sun for the national team to arrive. The subway service was stopped. The airline Aerolíneas Argentinas warned of problems with delayed flights due to the traffic chaos. The cell phone networks were also overloaded at times.
Mass enthusiasm: Numerous football fans are waiting for the Argentine team at the obelisk monument
Those: dpa/Fanchi Claudio
Messi sat on the bus with four of his team-mates, sipped from a glass in the bright sunshine and waved to the euphoric fans. The golden World Cup trophy was also presented.
The seven-time world footballer published a video with scenes from his career on Instagram. “It was almost three decades in which the ball gave me a lot of joy and also a little sadness. It was always my dream to become world champion and I didn’t want to stop trying even though I knew it might never happen,” he wrote.
Midfielder Thiago Almada posted a photo of Messi with the trophy on Instagram on the roof of the bus, while Rodrigo de Paul posted a video of the players singing and celebrating.
Messi also creates a state of emergency on Instagram
Earlier, Messi kept his fans updated with pictures on social media. After arriving in Buenos Aires at night and driving past thousands of fans, Argentina’s superstar took a little break. And the newly crowned soccer world champion wasn’t alone in bed – next to him the golden World Cup trophy. The 35-year-old posted three photos on Instagram, in the first he is “sleeping” in bed, his left hand on the trophy, in the second he smiles at the camera with the trophy and in the third he is with a trophy and a mate- see cup. “Good morning!” Messi captioned the photos, which received more than 28 million likes just three hours after publication.
Lionel Messi (centre) waves as he drives into town with the Argentine soccer team
Quelle: dpa/Amarelle Gustavo
In addition, Messi had set a milestone on Instagram. A post by the 35-year-old with photos showing him and the World Cup trophy celebrating after winning the final against France on Sunday received more than 56.2 million likes on the social network by Tuesday morning, and the trend was rising. With this, Messi overtook the post from the account “world_record_egg”, which was previously considered the most liked Instagram post. The photo of an egg was posted on January 4, 2019 with the aim of setting a world record. As of Tuesday afternoon, it had garnered more than 64.7 million likes.
After landing at Ezeiza Airport on Tuesday night, the Argentinian team, which had been on the road for more than 20 hours, first took the bus to the Argentinian association. There, too, thousands of fans had already cheered for their idols. After a short night, Messi & Co. had breakfast before the parade started.
