Argentina’s World Cup winners, led by captain Lionel Messi, returned home from Qatar on Tuesday morning ahead of a welcome home party in the country’s capital. After defeating France in Sunday’s thrilling final, the players will now spend the night at the Argentine Football Association (AFA) training complex where they arrived in Buenos Aires with thousands of supporters waiting to welcome them. They will then head to the iconic obelisk monument for a tour of Buenos Aires city center from Tuesday afternoon, where millions of people are expected to take to the streets on a public holiday.
“We will be here all night and tomorrow as well,” 25-year-old student Ayrton Kerdoukas told AFP outside the airport.
“Tomorrow we are not working, we will do nothing and we will go straight to the obelisk with Argentina.”
Argentina won the final in Qatar 4–2 on penalties after a rollercoaster 3–3 draw in 120 minutes of epic drama to claim their first world title in 36 years.
Messi, who scored twice in the final, was the first player to exit the plane holding the World Cup aloft, with coach Lionel Scaloni right behind him.
gracious pic.twitter.com/6vdDQiFlWl
– Sir Chandler’s Blog (@SirChandlerBlog) December 20, 2022
Forward Julián Álvarez, a revelation with his four goals in Qatar, was one of the next players on Arolinas Argentina’s Airbus A330.
A picture of Messi was printed on the back of the plane, which read: “One team, one country, one dream”.
The players made their way directly from the plane in a white open-top bus with a red carpet with the words “World Champion” and three stars on its side as their World Cup theme song “Muchachos” by ska band La Mosca was played. blew off.
– ‘Better than 86’ –
The excitement was already high since the party started after Sunday’s final before the players arrived.
A private reception was arranged in a VIP suite at the airport to welcome the returning players.
“I came because of my passion for Argentina. I love Messi, I love the whole team,” 55-year-old Alejandra Diaz, a kindergarten teacher, told AFP outside the airport.
Welder Javier Marina, 41, a Messi “fanatic”, said he came to the airport to try to get the star to sign a photo.
Merina said, “If he doesn’t, I’ll go to Rosario, Funes (Messi’s home town) to see if I can get Messi’s autograph.”
Messi, 35, finally crowned his record-breaking career with football’s biggest award as he produced one of the greatest performances in a World Cup final, scoring a first-half penalty and again in extra time of netting.
In doing so he emulated his predecessor in the form of Argentine idol Diego Maradona, who led the country to their second world title at Mexico 1986 with a series of match-winning performances.
“I remember ’86 but yesterday’s victory was far more emotional and more tense,” 65-year-old architect Ricardo Grunfeld told AFP.
“I don’t know if there’s a difference with ’86, but it came at a good time,” said 80-year-old Julema Guerrieri.
Argentina had led 2–0 with 10 minutes of normal time and 3–2 with only two minutes of extra time, but Kylian Mbappe became the only player in history to take the final to a penalty. Gonzalo Montiel scored the decisive spot kick before completing a second World Cup final hat-trick.
A spokeswoman for the municipality said that despite the large number of revelers during Sunday’s festivities, “people acted in a very positive way.”
Fewer than 20 people were arrested for separate incidents of violence or theft.
– ‘It warms the heart’ –
The defeated French players were given a standing ovation by fans in central Paris on Monday after their return from Qatar.
They appeared on the balcony of the Crillon Hotel overlooking the Place de la Concorde.
“Frankly, it’s fantastic, it warms the heart, it’s great to see that we were able to make so many French people proud and happy,” forward Marcus Thuram told TF1 TV.
They landed at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport just before 8:00 pm (1900 GMT), where a caravan of coaches took them straight into the center of Paris.
Goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris told TF1 that it was “an opportunity to greet them (the fans), to thank them for their support and to seek their consolation after yesterday’s pain.”
The captivating final was one of the most controversial World Cups in history.
Qatari organizers faced persistent questions about the country’s treatment of migrant workers and its laws on homosexuality.
Football’s world governing body FIFA stated that the cumulative stadium attendance was 3.4 million spectators and that more than one million spectators traveled to Qatar to watch the matches.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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