Picture Credit: Twitter
Lionel Messi is undoubtedly one of the greatest players ever to have ever graced the game of football. The 34-year-old is adored by fans across the globe and he is certainly an inspiration for so many young kids who consider him as their 'idol'. The COVID-19 pandemic had prevented the fans from watching their favourite players in action live in the stadium for last couple of years.
However, with the situation finally improving, fans are back in the stands and so are some of the common sights of young kids breaching the security to meet their stars. One such moment happened after the game between Argentina and Venezuela being played at the Estadio Olimpico Stadium in Caracas.
Young fan gets a hug from Lionel Messi
After the full-time whistle had been blown, the players of both the sides were greeting each other. Amid this, a young fan emerged from the stands. He jumped over the barricades and ran towards Lionel Messi with the security personnel caught off-guard.
The captain of Argentina saw the youngster and did not make too much fuss about the incident. Instead, Messi gave a warm hug to the boy in a heartwarming moment as crowd applauded from the stands.
Watch the video here:
Messi survived a career-ending tackle in the match
Although the match ended with this adorable moment between Messi and the young fan, the skipper of Argentina was actually very lucky to have avoided a horrific injury earlier in the contest. In the 32nd minute of the match, Adrian Martinez came sliding on with a very dangerous tackle on Messi's left foot. The 34-year-old fell down and looked in a lot of pain and his teammates were quite concerned about their captain.
Martinez was deservedly shown a straight red card after VAR check. Fortunately for Messi, not much damage had been done as the Argentine skipper stood on his feet once again and went on to play the entire 90 minutes.
Talking about the match, Argentina went on to win the match by 3-1 with Lautaro Martinez, Joaquin Correa and Angel Correa getting on the score-sheet. Yeferson Soteldo scored a consolation goal from the penalty spot for Venezuela in the dying minutes of the contest. Notably, Argentina are currently at second spot in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers with 4 wins and 3 draws from 7 matches.