During the 66th minute of the game, when Argentina was about to take a free kick from a distance of 25m, the match was disrupted as a fan jumped onto the stands and ran onto the field to embrace Messi.
Messi’s Chinese fans showed their love by running onto the field to embrace him, captured in a photo by AP.
As soon as Chinese fans donning Messi’s jersey take out their phones and storm onto the popular platform of social media, it creates a buzz. (Image: AP)
Messi was taken aback by the overwhelming affection of the Chinese fan who ran towards him on the field. However, he reciprocated the gesture with a warm hug. The fan later went on to shake hands with the goalkeeper, Emiliano Martínez, before being apprehended and escorted out of the stadium by the security team. The incident took place in front of a crowd of more than 60,000 fans who had gathered at the Cong Nhan Stadium in Beijing, China, to witness Messi’s performance. Despite the interruption caused by the fan’s actions, Messi and De Paul managed to regroup quickly, and Messi made an impressive cross for Pezzella to score the second goal, securing a 2-0 victory for Argentina.
In a recent match against Australia, Messi displayed his impressive skills by scoring the fastest goal of his entire career after only 80 seconds of play. The former PSG player sliced the ball off his left foot outside the penalty area to open the scoring for his team. At the age of 36, Messi is still at the top of his game, having scored 22 goals and 5 assists in his last 13 appearances, with only one failed attempt against Poland. He has also scored in the past 7 games for his national team. Following the game in China, Argentina will travel to Indonesia for a friendly match, although neither Messi nor Otamendi will attend.