The accident was narrowly avoided. As they paraded among the Argentinian supporters, five Albiceleste players had the reflex to bend down to pass under an electric cable stretched at the height of the bus. The vehicle was launched and Leandro Paredes, Rodrigo De Paul, Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria and Nicolas Otamendi could have been cut or especially caught in the cable, which would have caused them to fall on the road.
The drama did not go far but, in the end, only Paredes’s cap is to be stapled to the table of collateral victims, surely crushed by the following car. The World Cup trophy, firmly held by Messi, was also a narrow escape. In the absence of an electric shock, a shot of adrenaline must have run through the blood of the five partners of the Albiceleste. After the cable, they quickly found amused smiles, De Paul and Di Maria raising their arms to resume the course of the festivities.
On Sunday, Argentina won its third World Cup by dominating the French team on penalties (3-3, 4-2 tab). Starting from the stadium and the changing rooms, the party spread throughout Argentina, amplified by the arrival in the country of the heroes, whose return flight was much more followed than that of the Blues.
Communion was facilitated by the decision to declare this Tuesday a holiday. A human tide took over Buenos Aires as soon as Gonzalo Montiel’s last shot on goal transformed, but the climax of the party is expected for midday. Many Argentines are already following the route of the Argentine bus but it will draw a loop in the streets of Buenos Aires while an unknown remains about a passage of Messi’s troop to the balcony of the Presidential Palace, according to the AFP.