Messi and his teammates given heroes welcome as he returns home to his hometown of Rosario.
The 35-year-old returned to his home city for the first time since lifting the World Cup on Sunday, after he was earlier forced to evacuate his side’s winners’ parade earlier in the day, over safety concerns.
Following the parade, Messi was flown back by helicopter from Buenos Aires to Rosario – some 185 miles away – before he was pictured in a car driven by his wife Antonella Roccuzzo, as they headed home.
Upon his arrival, Messi was greeted by hundreds of cheering fans chanting ‘Dale Campeon’ translating to ‘Let’s go champion’.
The jubilant fans had been pushed to two sides by security to clear space for his wife to drive the car through the middle and inside a building.
Messi was born in Rosario and also started his football career playing for Newell’s Old Boys based in the city.
Messi and his family relocated to Barcelona in 2001 when he was 13-years-old and it was at the Spanish club he made his name as one of the greatest players in the world.
The star, now at Paris Saint-Germain, still regularly travels back to Rosario and his home which is on a private estate called Kentucky in Funes.
The monster property, built on three adjoining plots of land in a gated private estate on the outskirts of the footballer’s home city of Rosario, has a huge cinema, gym and underground garage with enough space for 15 cars.
It was a special moment for the people of Argentina, and especially in Rosario who had been longing for Messi to follow in the footsteps of Diego Maradona, and deliver their first World Cup since 1986.
Argentina’s World Cup-winning heroes had to be evacuated onto helicopters after their homecoming parade in Buenos Aires was cut short due to safety fears.
Lionel Messi and Co received a hero’s welcome from more than four million adoring fans at a parade held to celebrate their victory over France in the final.
But when it became clear people were jumping from bridges to land themselves on top of the bus and others on the ground making it impossible for the bus to continue on route, the parade was swiftly abandoned.
Lionel Scaloni and his players touched down in the early hours of Tuesday morning but by 4pm in the afternoon, with more than four million people out on the streets celebrating, the bus parade was shelved.
[ruby_related heading=”More Read” total=5 layout=1]President of the Argentinian Football Association, Chiqui Tapia, wrote on Twitter: ‘They won’t allow us to greet everyone who was at the Obelisk.
‘The security organisations that were escorting us won’t let us continue. I apologise in the name of all the players. A real shame.’
The bus had been slowly making its way towards the Obelisk monument in the centre of Buenos Aires, in the Plaza de la República.
But the government intervened and on safety grounds urged Messi and Co to take to the skies in helicopters to complete their journey.
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