Lionel Messi and his Argentina teammates will play their first match since winning the World Cup on Thursday in Qatar. At the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, there were 63,000 available tickets for the match against Panama, a Central American underdog.
More than 1.5 million fans applied for them. After Argentina’s dramatic penalty shootout victory over France in December, football-obsessed Argentines turned out in even greater numbers.
An expected 5,000,000 individuals crowded the roads of Buenos Aires a couple of days after the fact for the prize procession.
Such was the huge number that the motorcade must be deserted well before it arrived at focal Buenos Aires as it was at that point hours delayed.
Messi could represent Argentina as world champions.
After the final in Doha, in which he scored two goals and a penalty kick in a shootout, Messi was widely expected to retire from international football. However, the Paris Saint-Germain forward stated that he wanted to continue playing for a little while longer so that he could represent Argentina as world champions.
He is in good health and intends to continue coming. “We’ll see when he tells me he doesn’t feel well,” said coach Lionel Scaloni on Tuesday. He is content with the national team right now.
When two men opened fire on a closed supermarket that belonged to the family of Messi’s wife earlier this month, the expectation was slightly dented. They then left a menacing message for the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner.
“Messi, we await your arrival. The handwritten note left on the ground stated, “Javkin is a narco, he won’t take care of you,” referring to Pablo Javkin, the mayor of Messi’s hometown of Rosario, which is approximately 320 kilometers north of Buenos Aires.
It was more of a publicity stunt than a real threat to the mayor of Rosario.
While it may not straightforwardly influence Messi, the episode featured a developing issue in the 35-year-old neighborhood.
Everyone will want to beat us:
The team’s competitive homecoming in Buenos Aires is expected to be a party. Within two hours of going on sale, the remaining tickets were snapped up, with 20,000 invitee seats reserved in the 83,000-capacity stadium.
The cheapest options range from 12,000 pesos (60 cents) to 49,000 pesos (245 cents), which is more than half the average monthly salary in the South American nation.
Claudio Tapia, president of the Argentine football federation, stated that the organization had received more than 130,000 requests for media accreditation in a stadium that can only accommodate 344 journalists.
The government has decided to broadcast the match for free, so at least those who are unable to enter the stadium can watch it on television.
Scaloni promised them that no matter what the situation was or who they were up against, the team would not rest on its laurels. He stated, “The objective is to continue playing at the same level.”Argentina will play Curacao in Match 28 in Santiago del Estero following Thursday’s match.