BRAZIL 2014: Lots of love for Messi & Co despite Rio defeat
After the match the iconic Obelisk monument in the Argentine capital, the place where the country traditionally rallies, initially drew tens of thousands of revellers. PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
- Television networks carried live coverage of the plane, painted in the blue and white colours of the flag with the words "Thank you Argentina", as it touched down in Buenos Aires.
- Thousands more fans lined the team’s route from the airport, waving sky blue and white flags and swarming the convoy of three buses, which moved at a snail’s pace through the crowds.
Buenos Aires, Argentina. Thousands of people greeted a crestfallen Lionel Messi and the rest of the Argentina team when the squad flew home to Buenos Aires Monday after their World Cup Final defeat to Germany.
Television networks carried live coverage of the plane, painted in the blue and white colours of the flag with the words "Thank you Argentina", as it touched down in Buenos Aires, where about 500 fans braved the cold to meet the flight from Rio de Janeiro.
Thousands more fans lined the team’s route from the airport, waving sky blue and white flags and swarming the convoy of three buses, which moved at a snail’s pace through the crowds.
Coach Alejandro Sabella led the team off the plane and onto three buses that took them to be welcomed by President Cristina Kirchner at the nearby offices of the Argentine Football Association, an event that was closed to the media.
"We gave everything we had," Sabella said as he crossed the tarmac at Ezeiza International Airport. Team members left the plane with grim expressions and had few if any words for waiting journalists.
"I would have liked a different kind of homecoming," said midfielder Javier Mascherano, one of the star performers in the run to Sunday's final. But to their adoring fans, the team were heroes for battling Germany to the bitter end of a nail-biting 1-0 defeat in extra time.
"We came to support the team because they gave everything for us and they deserve our support," said Matias Ruiz, 17, one of about 500 fans who braved the cold to greet the team's charter flight from Rio de Janeiro.
Nationwide, the atmosphere was one of pride as much as disappointment after the team played its first World Cup final since 1990 and Lionel Messi claimed the Golden Ball award for best player of the tournament.
After the match the iconic Obelisk monument in the Argentine capital, the place where the country traditionally rallies, initially drew tens of thousands of revellers.
Waving the flag, setting off fireworks and climbing onto traffic lights and bus stops to dance and sing, Argentines showed their determination to celebrate despite the bittersweet end of the nation's World Cup campaign.
But after several hours of partying, dozens of hardcore fans known as "barras bravas" started throwing stones at police, who responded by firing rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon.
Police arrested around 120 people over the violence, which left 70 wounded.
