Emotional Lionel Messi fights back tears as Argentina welcomes back World Cup heroes


25-03-2023 12:42 PM

Ammon News - An emotional Lionel Messi fought back tears as he and his Argentina teammates were given a rousing reception by fans in their first game on home soil since winning the World Cup in Qatar.

A packed Monumental serenaded their heroes before kick off in their friendly against Panama, a match Argentina won 2-0 with goals from Thiago Almada and Messi.

Lionel Scaloni picked the same starting line-up from the World Cup final win over France as they looked dominant from the start, but could not break through the Panamanian defensive wall until late in the second half.

Atlanta United's Almada opened the scoring in the 79th minute with his first international goal after capitalising on a rebound following a free kick by Messi that hit the left post.

Captain Messi finally got his 800th career goal – his 99th for Argentina – and doubled the lead in the 89th minute with a brilliant free-kick that went into the top right corner to excite the more than 80,000 fans chanting his name at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires.

"I always dreamed of this moment, to celebrate with you in my country Argentina, lifting the greatest thing that is the World Cup," Messi said at a post-match ceremony organised by the Argentina Football Association to celebrate the country's third World Cup title and first in 36 years.

"Let's keep doing what we are doing and enjoy this, because we have been waiting a long time to win it again. Let's enjoy the third star."

A tearful Scaloni added: "Eternal gratitude to these players. Football belongs to them, and without them we wouldn't have won the World Cup."

Argentina will continue their World Cup winners' homecoming with a friendly against Curacao on Tuesday.




  • no comments

Notice
All comments are reviewed and posted only if approved.
Ammon News reserves the right to delete any comment at any time, and for any reason, and will not publish any comment containing offense or deviating from the subject at hand, or to include the names of any personalities or to stir up sectarian, sectarian or racial strife, hoping to adhere to a high level of the comments as they express The extent of the progress and culture of Ammon News' visitors, noting that the comments are expressed only by the owners.
name : *
email
show email
comment : *
Verification code : Refresh
write code :