Lionel Messi‘s agonising wait for an international trophy came to an end after Argentina, with the help of a wonder goal from Angel Di Maria, beat Brazil in the final of the Copa America at Maracana on Monday. After the win, Messi celebrated with his teammates but did take out time to video call his wife and family and celebrate the win with them, as well.
In a video uploaded by the official handle of Copa America on Instagram, Messi can be seen showing and kissing his winner’s medal as his wife smiles uncontrollably.
While this incident was widely shared by footballing fans, another incident that brought smiles to the face of the fans was when Messi hugged and consoled former Barcelona teammate and Brazilian Neymar after the win.
After the final whistle, Neymar came looking for Messi in the Argentina camp and once he saw him, the two hugged it out.
Messi even kept the celebrating Argentina camp away from the two of them.
The Copa America 2021 win was Argentina’s first title win in 28 years. They last won it in 1993 against Mexico in Ecuador.
In the tournament, Messi scored four goals and had five assists to his name. His two goals include the two wonder free-kicks – one each against Chile and Ecuador.
“It’s a great title, especially for our people. The fans support the team unconditionally. I think they can identify with this team that never gives in,” said Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni.
It was the first time in six editions playing at home that Brazil had failed to lift the trophy.
And while 34-year-old Messi’s odyssey has come to an end, Brazil’s Neymar, five years his junior, is still without a major title at international level having missed the Selecao’s win on home soil two years ago through injury.
“We fell short so many times, we dreamt so much about this, fought so hard,” said Di Maria, who was named man of the match.
“Many people said we wouldn’t manage it, we were criticized a lot. But we kept knocking at the door and kept going until today we knocked it down and entered,” he added.
The final was the first match of the tournament, which was originally due to take place last year, to allow in fans as 7,800 — a tenth of the Maracana capacity — took their seats after authorities partially lifted pandemic restrictions.
