Lionel Messi

No World Cup hangover for Messi — Argentine scores in first game back for PSG

24 days after lifting the World Cup, Lionel Messi made his return to the pitch as league-leading PSG welcomed last-place Angers to the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.

With Kylian Mbappé not returning to training until Thursday, PSG manager Christophe Galtier started Messi and Neymar out wide with 20-year-old French striker Hugo Ekitiké leading the line and Fabián Ruiz joining the attack from midfield.

Before the match, PSG players warmed up in shirts paying tribute to Pelé and there was a minute's applause before kick-off.

Lionel Messi's record-breaking photo was with a fake World Cup trophy

After getting more than 74 million "hearts" and becoming the most-liked post in the history of Instagram, the iconic photo of Lionel Messi lifting the World Cup trophy is again in the news. 

This time for a very different and weird reason: Two Argentina supporters claim the trophy Messi was holding is a fake. 

Messi receives a guard of honor on his return to PSG but also a death glare from Mbappé's little brother

After a few days of rest, World Cup champion Lionel Messi returned to PSG training sessions and was warmly welcomed by teammates and the technical staff of the French club. 

Messi was loudly cheered and received a guard of honor to celebrate his role in Argentina's title in Qatar 2022. Soccer advisor Luis Campos even gave him a small trophy to mark the occasion. 

However, amidst Messi's honoring march, someone was not very happy: Ethan Mbappé, Kylian Mbappé's little brother. 

People say this holiday photo of Messi and his wife predicted Argentina's World Cup title

Euphoria levels are still high in Argentina after the World Cup title. People are not tired of celebrating and talking about Messi's masterstrokes, Dibu Martínez's antics in the penalty shootouts vs. the Netherlands and France, or Enzo Fernández's bright future.

Watch all 172 goals scored at the 2022 World Cup

Do you miss the World Cup? Well, you are not the only one.

In terms of spectacle, Qatar 2022 was fun and set an all-time goal-scoring record for the tournament. The 32 teams participating in the event bagged a combined 172 goals, one more than the 171 we saw in France 1998 and Brazil 2014.

That's an average of 2.68 goals per game. Not bad, right?

Unreal scenes in Buenos Aires as 4 MILLION fans celebrate Argentina's World Cup victory in the streets

BUENOS AIRES — Hundreds of thousands - millions by some estimates - of ecstatic Argentines flooded onto the streets of Buenos Aires on Tuesday to cheer the country's World Cup-winning soccer squad led by Lionel Messi after their plane landed in the pre-dawn hours.

The team arrived in the early hours at Ezeiza airport where despite it being around 3 a.m. thousands were waiting with banners, flags and flares, and howling in joy after 36 years since the country's last World Cup victory.

Messi and four other Argentina stars narrowly escape being knocked off a bus by a street cable

Argentina is in a big massive party state right now. Government officials declared a national holiday this Tuesday while thousands of fans are gathering near the Obelisco in Buenos Aires to celebrate the World Cup title next to the players who reached the glory. 

But things could have taken a tragic twist Monday night after the national team arrived in Argentina when an overhead cable almost hit five stars of La Albicesleste, including Lionel Messi.

Lionel Messi's career by the numbers

The following is a look at Argentina captain Lionel Messi's career by the numbers:

499 million

Global followers on social media platforms Facebook and Instagram (over 10 times the population of Argentina)

$120 million

¡Dio resultado! La (casi) inadvertida cábala de Antonela Roccuzzo y los hijos de Messi durante el Mundial

Fue el Mundial de Messi. El GOAT cumplió su sueño de ser campeón del mundo con Argentina, en una performance difícil de olvidar, ganada por el talento sobrenatural que llevan sus pies, la conmovedora entrega de sus compañeros en el campo de juego y también el incondicional amor de su familia en las tribunas.

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