(CNN Spanish) — The Argentine national soccer team, winner of the World Cup in Qatararrived in the country and celebrated with the fans on Tuesday in several tours that began at dawn from the airport to the AFA premises in Ezeiza and that at noon toured part of Greater Buenos Aires on a bus, but which had to end in helicopter due to the number of people on the streets and the security risks.
More than 5 million people came out to celebrate the champions, according to the Minister of Security, Hannibal Fernandez. They filled entire highways and hundreds of streets, crowded along different roads and mounted on poles, traffic lights and bus stops, in the middle of the southern summer, to see and greet the soccer players. The bus took more than four hours between the town of Ezeiza, in the province of Buenos Aires, at the entrance to the city of Buenos Aires, according to the state agency Télam. Normally between the AFA property and the Obelisk there would be half an hour and an hour depending on traffic.
(Credit: TOMAS CUESTA/AFP via Getty Images)
But it was evident to the authorities that the bus was not going to be able to go much further. In addition, two fans jumped from a bridge on the Riccheri Highway onto the bus: one fell inside the bus and the other fell to the ground following hitting the back of the bus, according to Télam reports and might be seen in numerous videos on social networks.
The players had to get out of the vehicles and boarded helicopters at the Federal Police Cadet School in the Villa Lugano neighborhood of Buenos Aires.
#ChampionsAtHome ⭐⭐⭐
This was the moment in which the players of the Argentine National Team had to get off the buses to board the helicopters, following a journey of more than four hours from the exit of the AFA premises in Ezeiza pic.twitter.com/vn50pgOPZB
– Telam Agency (@AgenciaTelam) December 20, 2022
The soccer players saluted from the helicopters, which flew over various parts of the federal capital for 20 minutes where the fans were concentrated.
A day of massive celebration without arrival at the Obelisk
The selection arrived at dawn on Tuesday to the Ministro Pistarini international airport in Buenos Aires, coming from Doha, according to the official Télam news agency.
At 11:23 a.m. Argentine time (09:23 ET), the Argentine squad began the tour amid a crowd that was waiting for them along the way.
First of all, the idea was that the bus with the soccer players would reach the Obelisk, the iconic site of the Argentine capital. Then it was announced that this was not going to be possible, and that the soccer players would greet the crowd from the 25 de Mayo and 9 de Julio highway.
However, around 4:00 p.m. local time, the president of the AFA, Claudio Tapia, assured in a message on his Twitter account that the caravan might not advance for security reasons.
“They don’t let us get to greet all the people who were in the Obelisk, the same Security agencies that escorted us, don’t allow us to move forward. A thousand apologies on behalf of all the Champion players. A shame,” the leader wrote.
They don’t let us get to greet all the people who were at the Obelisk, the same Security agencies that escorted us, don’t allow us to move forward.
A thousand apologies on behalf of all the Champion players.
A pity ????????????— Chiqui Tapia (@tapiachiqui) December 20, 2022
Minutes later, the spokesperson for the Argentine Presidency, Gabriela Cerruti, confirmed that the members of the Argentine squad would complete the tour in helicopters.
“The World Champions are flying over the entire route in helicopters because it became impossible to continue by land due to the explosion of popular joy. Let’s continue celebrating in peace and showing them our love and admiration!” wrote the official.
The World Champions are flying over the entire route in helicopters because it became impossible to continue on land due to the explosion of popular joy. Let’s continue to celebrate in peace and show them our love and admiration!
— Gabriela Cerruti (@gabicerru) December 20, 2022
The Argentine Federal Police said in a statement that a helicopter from the institution took Lionel Messi, Lionel Scaloni and Rodrigo De Paul on board, with the World Cup, and that they will “fly over the Obelisk, Constitución area, Julio, Av. De Mayo, Highway 25 de Mayo to greet the people”.
The other footballers were in helicopters from the Naval Prefecture.
Then they returned to the AFA property. Then several of them left and went to the towns of their families. Messi and Ángel Di María arrived in Rosario in the followingnoon.
The helicopter that transported Messi, De Paul and Scaloni. (Credit: Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images)
At the end of the day there were excesses and confrontations. People were seen throwing stones at policemen who were trying to remove, along with firefighters, fans who climbed to the top of the Obelisk, police said.
There were eight injuries, including police officers and firefighters, and four detainees.
The return from Qatar
The team traveled on an Aerolíneas Argentinas plane that arrived at 2:24 am local time.
The team left the Buenos Aires airport following being greeted with cheers and a band singing ‘Muchachos’, a song that has become Argentina’s unofficial anthem for the 2022 World Cup.
The group went to the training center of the Argentine Football Association where they spent the night.
The players did not go to the Casa Rosada, as happened in 1986 with the team that won the World Cup in Mexico led by Diego Armando Maradona, a source close to the president of the Argentine Soccer Association told CNN.
President Alberto Fernandez decreed a national holiday for this Tuesday for the celebrations of the Argentine team through a Decree of Necessity and exempts the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP) and the banks, which worked until 12 noon, according to Télam, the agency of Argentine news.
Aerial view of the Obelisk as a crowd of Argentine fans gather for the victory parade of the Argentina men’s soccer team following winning the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on December 20, 2022 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo by Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images)
