EZEIZA (Argentina)— Most of Argentina’s football team landed back home, as thousands of fans waited to welcome them, following their 1-0 loss to Spain in the World Cup final, according to the airport authority.
The Argentine Football Association (AFA) said earlier that some squad members would not be on the flight, and star Lionel Messi was not seen descending from the aircraft in images broadcast on local television.
Coach Lionel Scaloni and the rest of the team were welcomed with a red carpet outside the aircraft and a military band.
Thousands of fans braved the cold and the rain, waiting outside the AFA near the airport to welcome home the players, draped in flags and holding blue-and-white umbrellas to shield them from the drizzle.
It was not the homecoming Argentines had hoped for, four years after millions filled the streets to celebrate their team’s victory in 2022, but many turned out to thank the team for their performance.
“Argentines will celebrate anyway,” said housewife Marga Ledezma, 36, who thanked Messi for “all the years he made us happy,” urging him not to quit playing for Argentina.
Argentina lost 1-0 to Spain, failing to win back-to-back World Cups in a game that has been criticised in international media for a plethora of fouls and displays of poor sportsmanship from the Albiceleste.
“I think they criticise us because we know what it’s like to suffer, that we get up, we fall down again, and we keep going,” said Ledezma according to AFP.
Maria Ortiz, 28, came to welcome the team with her two-year-old, and said that Spain “deserved the win” but she was “happy for what the team gave us.”
