Lionel Messi has come full circle in his career. By winning the FIFA World Cup, the one major trophy that had evaded him all across his career, he has basically done everything a professional footballer can do.
If he decides to call it a day and retire a few days later, one can’t really blame him. The seven-time Ballon d’Or has basically won it all and has nothing else to prove or accomplish in his career.
However, he still seems to have the ambition and desire to keep playing at the top level – claiming after the World Cup win that he’ll keep playing for Argentina.
While his domestic future is still up in the air, Messi doesn’t really seem to be caring much about that anytime. He is just focused on celebrating the World Cup success and just celebrating with his close ones.
Leo and his Argentine squad members have flown into their home country to continue the party with their fans.
Millions of fans landed on the streets of Buenos Aires after the win and their celebrations are not going to stop anytime soon.
Messi & co landed in Argentina on Monday night after a lengthy flight from Qatar, but still had plenty of energy and exuberance to have an open-bus parade in front of their fans in Buenos Aires.
The Argentine players were paraded all across the city, with millions of fans tracking them and showcasing their love for the delightful success.
At one point in this parade when Messi and his teammates were seated at the top of the bus, one fan decided to throw a plush toy of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character at them.
Messi caught it and took it rather well, just laughing at it before throwing it back to the fans – with teammates Rodrigo De Paul and Leandro Paredes also finding it to be pretty funny.
This could, of course, be a bit of a jibe to Messi’s PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe – who came up short at the World Cup final despite scoring a hat-trick against Argentina.
Mbappe has been the butt of a lot of TMNT jokes across his career, with some of his ex-PSG teammates also trolling him for having a similar appearance as Michaelangelo.
Thiago Silva had even once gifted the French forward a TMNT mask for one of his birthdays at the club.
But it’s not like Mbappe is triggered or angered by stuff like this, as he had shown when Silva gifted him that by just wearing the mask and even laughing about the entire thing.
This plush being thrown at Messi seems to be a harmless case of the Argentine fans trying to mock Mbappe after he just about came up short in the final. Messi, to his credit, did not show any disdain toward his PSG teammate in the game or after it.
Leo will now get to enjoy a well-deserved vacation after the World Cup celebrations are over before he returns to PSG.
As it stands, it’s likelier that Mbappe will embrace his return and be gunning to play together with him rather than hold any grudges against Messi for outshining him at the World Cup final.