Messi evacuated by Helicopter after crowds swarm team bus at 3 am.
Millions of people took to the streets of Buenos Aires on Tuesday to celebrate Argentina’s World Cup victory, causing a planned parade route to be disrupted and forcing Lionel Messi and his teammates to abandon an open-top bus in favor of flying over the city in helicopters.
Since Sunday, when Argentina defeated France to win its third World Cup title and first in 36 years, the football-crazed country has been flooded with joyous celebrations.
According to Clarin, after crowds swarmed the team bus upon arrival at 3 a.m. at the airport, the planned trip through the city at midday was disrupted by at least 4 million people in the streets.
A video shared on social media showed a fan dropping from a bridge onto the team bus carrying Messi, with another missing the vehicle and falling into the crowd.
Around the same time, Chiqui Tapia, the head of the Football Association, said they were unable to continue by bus and apologized to supporters who turned out early.
Enzo Fernandez, a team midfielder, posted a picture of himself wearing a headset in a helicopter, and a presidential spokeswoman confirmed the players were flying over the crowds because the roads were clogged due to the “explosion of happiness”.
After President Alberto Fernandez declared a national holiday for the celebrations, wild scenes on local TV showed people filling highway bridges, climbing light posts and vehicles, and singing and waving shirts and flags across the 46-million-strong country.
Poor planning and security failure to protect the team bus will almost certainly result in finger-pointing in the aftermath.
The celebration provides a much-needed distraction for Argentines who are struggling with an economic crisis of high inflation, a weakening currency, and tight capital controls.
To avoid mixing politics and sports, the players have been reluctant to meet with government officials.
The football federation had earlier in the day ruled out a visit to the presidential palace. When their plane touched down at the international airport in the early hours of Tuesday, Messi did not greet Interior Minister Eduardo de Pedro, who was waiting for the team on the tarmac.
Argentina’s political situation is highly polarised, and a photo of politicians with Messi, a local hero widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, could have unanticipated consequences ahead of October’s general elections.
As annual inflation approaches 100%, the ruling Peronist coalition’s approval ratings have fallen.
