Global Courant
The match that the national team plays against Australia next Thursday in Beijing generated extreme fervor in Asian lands.
Over the weekend, some 20,000 Chinese went to wait for Lionel Messi and the Argentine National Team at the Beijing airport. It seemed crazy. But, far from going down, the Chinese tide is growing and on Tuesday some five million Asians were disappointed on social networks. It is that, the local fans expected a long interview of Lionel Messi with the Titán program. However, the Argentine star barely launched a couple of sentences where he questioned his participation in the next World Cup and spoke briefly about the Champions League final. Little meat for beasts. But tomorrow they will have their revenge: a stream is announced “between 6 PM and 9 PM” where Leo will be able to elaborate a little more.
The certain thing is that the tour of the Argentina Selection by China became a true madness. Since the landing of the Scaloneta last Sunday, the streets of Beijing have been overflowing at all times, both day and night. “They are going to kill us, boludo”, Lionel Scaloni himself was heard worried. Not even the Rolling Stones could do that much.
After the panic, there was some laughter. This morning (on a Chinese morning, of course) Lionel Messi was laughing along with De Paul and the members of La Scaloneta over a sign asking them for an autograph, although Google translation hadn’t helped the young Pekingese too much. Anyway, the message got through.
La Scaleneta faces the double FIFA date on a tour of Asia that will leave the AFA around one hundred million dollars. First, they will play a match against Australia next Thursday from 9 in the morning, Argentine time. And then he will do it with Indonesia, but at that point Lionel Messi will be traveling to take a well-deserved vacation.
And in the middle there is a real madness. Like that of Liu Yuhang, the Messi fan who pays $280 a night to stay at the hotel where La Scaloneta is staying. Yesterday the bus ran by bicycle and, when the vehicle stopped at a traffic light, he managed to take a photo of him with Messi who was looking at him from the other side of the window.
Liu Yuhang ran to the National Team bus with his bicycle and took a photo with Messi. Photo: AFP
The schedule does not seem to matter to the Chinese as long as they get some minimal contact with the players and to be able to see Leo. This was demonstrated tonight in Beijing – around 10:30 in the morning in our country – when the world champion squad returned to the hotel after training and the security fences were overwhelmed. It was more than 10:30 p.m. in Asia, but the shouting was deafening in search of an Argentine greeting from the Argentine team.
Every day of training we seek to carry out a procedure as stealthy as possible in order to get to the property as quickly as possible. A video starring Lionel Scaloni himself, where they have to change the training plan in front of the crowd present at the hotel door, describes the situation that his team has to live at all times.
“Did you see the images from the airport? There were 20 thousand people, didn’t you see it? No, no. Today we are not going anywhere. Tomorrow we are going to the stadium and take 20 bicycles, if not, we will not train any day. They are going to us kill, stupid. There is no way,” the world champion coach explained to his assistants after being surprised by the Chinese madness and his warm welcome.
Given this, the players are practically unable to go out to sign autographs and greet the public due to the large crowd that awaits them at the hotel door. Each movement that the squad makes -in bus- is between security fences so as not to be affected by the traffic that each person would generate looking to see Messi and the rest of the world champions through the glass. The Chinese revolution is total. In addition, it is worth remembering that the tickets for the match against Australia sold out in just 40 minutes.
Even every fan who is waiting to see their idol from Rosario does so with their National Team shirt. The three stars are seen at all times. And the Argentine flags are not far behind either. A new country joins the list of lovers of the Scaleneta.
The madness for Messi
The madness is produced especially by the passion that Asians feel for Messi. For this reason, when they found out that the star had arrived in Beijing on his private plane, the doors of the establishment exploded. From that moment on, every step taken by the Argentine team is closely followed by all the country’s inhabitants.
Journalists are also recognized thanks to Messi
Gastón Edul is covering the National Team’s tour of Asia and several followers of La Pulga recognized him as the one who interviewed Leo when he released the phrase “Anda pa’ allá Bobo”. And both the star and the chronicler were caught on camera, a fact that marked both equally.
On this occasion, when the Chinese saw that Edul was walking through the streets of Beijing, after traveling to his lands in order to follow the step by step of the Selection, they immediately approached him. After recognizing it, they tried to imitate the historic phrase that Messi patented: “Bobo, bobo, what a fool you look at, go over there.”
But as if these greetings were not enough, several of those who approached with Messi’s shirt came to ask him to sign autographs. His insanity for Leo led to him being received practically as an idol.
