Lionel Messi and Argentina have returned to their home soil for their first International fixture as the reigning World Football champions. Before the final stretch of club football season, the International break will see Cup qualifiers and International friendlies take place.
Argentina’s first match as the World champions will be a Friendly against Panama. Estadio Monumental will host the match and the stadium will be jam packed with Argentinian followers. About 2 Million fans applied for the 63,000 capacity stadium at Buenos Aires.
Messi getting Messi treatment in Argentina 💙pic.twitter.com/nVYNhByrIL
— L/M Football (@lmfootbalI) March 21, 2023
With over three months have passed since Lionel Messi led Argentina to victory in the 2022 World Cup final, and his native nation’s supporters are still turning out in droves to honor their hero whenever he visits. The 35-year-old when he came out of a restaurant in his hometown was flooded with thousands of his fans.
🤯🇦🇷 It is an understatement to say the people of Argentina love Lionel Messi… pic.twitter.com/VH7nepPfaI
— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) March 21, 2023
Messi and his family arrived in Buenos Aires on Monday morning. Messi, who scored seven goals during the competition, including two against France in the final, was awarded the Golden Ball as the finest player. The Argentinian will look to pick up a win after a disappointing few games with Paris Saint Germain.
Blessing your feed with another Leo Messi sighting in Argentina pic.twitter.com/1NKKY4zZtJ
— MC (@CrewsMat10) March 22, 2023
PSG are already out from this season’s UEFA Champions League after suffering defeats to Bayern Munich on both Round of 16 legs. He has also been receiving a lot of criticism from the fans of the club because he has been under performing off late.
Messi alongisde Emiliano Martinez and Lionel Scaloni won the Best FIFA player, Manager and the Goalkeeper award and all of them will return with good momentum ahead of Panama. Scaloni provided an update on Messi saying – “He is in good shape, he wants to keep coming. When he tells me that he doesn’t feel good, we’ll see. At the moment he is happy with the national team.”
