King Messi takes a bow as Argentina return to action

Buenos Aires, March 24

Messi mania gripped Buenos Aires as the Argentina national team led by Lionel Messi beat Panama 2-0 in a friendly match that was essentially a celebration of their World Cup victory last December.

Although the world champions dominated the game, they didn’t get a goal until the 78th minute of the second half, when Thiago Almada scored after a free-kick by Messi hit the goal post.

Ten minutes later, it was Messi’s turn and he scored the 800th goal of his professional career with a perfectly executed free-kick. He is now one short of the 100-goal mark for the national squad.

After the match, the celebrations got into full swing and Messi took centrestage, smiling from ear to ear as he received awards and accolades.

“I want to thank you for all the love we’ve been receiving . . . We told you we were going to do everything possible to win this,” a visibly emotional Messi said as he was handed the microphone. “Let’s enjoy this because we went a long time without winning it, and we don’t know when we’ll win it again.” — AP