A steakhouse in the trendy Buenos Aires neighbor-hood of Palermo was mobbed by hundreds of fren-zied soccer fans late Monday night when word spread that Lionel Messi was inside having dinner.
People rushed to the exclusive Don Julio restau-rant eager to get a glimpse of the man who led Ar-gentina to its third World Cup title. Messi eventually needed a police escort to leave.
Fans on the street corner chanted “Messi, Messi” and sang the words to “Muchachos,” which became the unofficial anthem for the Argentina squad that beat France in a thrilling final in Qatar.
The scene witnessed in the neighborhood of Ar-gentina’s capital known for its bars and restaurants illustrates how Messi has now become like the late Diego Maradona, who led Argentina to its second World Cup trophy in 1986, and he can no longer walk through Argentina’s streets without being mobbed.
It wasn’t always this way. The man who is now cheered wherever he goes once used to suffer the indifference and even apathy from many Argentina fans who blamed him for the country’s failings in previous championships. All that vitriol led the man who is often called the best soccer player in the world to even quit the national team in 2016, although he later backtracked.
All of that now seems to be forgotten as Messi fever has decidedly taken over, recalling what hap-pened with Maradona 36 years ago after he raised the World Cup in Mexico. The then-captain also had to deal with fans who chased him wherever he went in the hopes of getting a photograph or an autograph.
On Monday night, the multitude was so great that police officers had to arrive at the restaurant to ac-company the 35-year-old Messi to his vehicle while keeping fans at bay.
Images and video posted on social media showed the furor of the fans who seemed willing to do any-thing to greet and touch the Paris Saint-Germain player. “Messi I love you” and “Thank you, Leo” were just a few phrases that could be heard as he was escorted out of the restaurant.
“Thank you for looking at me captain, I can die in peace,” one user wrote on Twitter accompanied by a video that showed a smiling Messi being escorted as people shouted “I love you!”—AFP
