Messi mania has gripped Buenos Aires as the Argentina national team led by captain Lionel Messi faces Panama on Thursday in a friendly match that essentially is a celebration of their World Cup victory in December.
News channels carried live images of the players traveling to the stadium with a police escort as excited fans waited to see the team's first game since it beat France in a thrilling final in Qatar.
The match will culminate a week in which Messi was widely celebrated as a hero after winning Argentina’s third World Cup title, a marked change for the player who once suffered the indifference and even apathy from many Argentina fans who blamed him for the country’s failings in previous championships.
It all started Monday night when hundreds of fans mobbed a steakhouse in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo when word spread that Messi was inside having dinner. The Paris Saint-Germain player needed a police escort to leave but was all smiles as people shouted “Messi I love you” and “Thank you, Leo.”
The next day, a group of fans realized the car next to them on the highway was carrying the man who is often described as the world’s best soccer player. They immediately started shouting, “I love you, Messi!” and “Let’s go, Messi!”
That’s when Messi proceeded to roll down his window and wave. The brief video of the encounter quickly went viral.
On Wednesday, the hosts of a morning network TV show went wild when they received an audio message from Messi.
“Good morning everyone,” Messi said in the message that the hosts huddled to listen to intently. “I’m happy to be here, to enjoy everything we keep experiencing after what happened in December, and excited to enjoy tomorrow’s game.”
Afterward, the incredulous hosts celebrated as if Argentina had just won the World Cup championship all over again.
During Thursday's match at Monumental Stadium, the 35-year-old player will also have a chance to round out his stats. If he scores, he will reach the 800-goal mark of his professional career. If he scores two twice, it would mark his 100th goal for the national squad.
To avoid any issues, the players were taken to the stadium six hours before the start of the match flanked by a security operation that involved dozens of law enforcement officers. Plans for the transfer had been kept under wraps to avoid a repeat of what happened in December when a celebratory open-top bus throughout the capital had to be cut short when millions of fans made it impossible for the vehicle to advance.
Tickets to Thursday’s match sold out in a flash but the game will be just one chapter of the celebration that will include local musicians and a trailer of a documentary about the World Cup winning squad. The fan who wrote “Muchachos,” which became the unofficial anthem for the Argentina squad in Qatar, will also be present.
The celebrations will also include a moment when Messi will receive the World Cup in front of more than 80,000 Argentina fans in a recreation of the ceremony that took place in Doha.
“This is more than a football match, it’s a big celebration,” said Guillermo Madero, who is in charge of the security operations surrounding the match and detailed that there would be 1,500 police officers to control access to the stadium.
The party continues Tuesday when the team will play another friendly match against Curaçao in Argentina’s central Santiago del Estero province.
