Argentina

The Argentina national team's training facility has been renamed after talismanic captain Lionel Messi in recognition of his World Cup heroics and star-studded career, the country's football association (AFA) said on Saturday.

The Casa de Ezeiza in Buenos Aires, which houses the national team set-up, will now be known as Lionel Andrés Messi "in tribute to the best player in the world," AFA president Claudio Tapia wrote on Twitter.

"Welcome to the world champion's house," Tapia said at the unveiling ceremony attended by current and former Argentina players.

If you’ve played enough of the FIFA video game series with friends, then you’re probably familiar with randomizing the teams before a game. Sometimes you’ll get a strange matchup where one player gets a national team and the other gets a club. 

That would never happen in real life, right? 

Friday will see a situation just like that as the Argentina national team announced it will play a friendly against Primera División leaders River Plate. The game is part of a national celebration for Argentina’s triumph in Qatar.

Argentina worships Leo Messi. It always has been the case, but after the World Cup title, the adoration only multiplied. The love, the obsession, it's so unleashed that when people found out he was eating at a steakhouse in Buenos Aires on Monday night, hundreds gathered around the restaurant to chant his name and police had to come to keep everybody safe.

I've been there. Trying to silence a bunch of raucous kids in a classroom is a Herculean task. However, a teacher in Argentina might have found a perfect method to achieve it. And she was generous enough to share her secret with other colleagues on a TikTok video.

A hint? All she had to do was mention Lionel Messi.

BUENOS AIRES - Two people on motorcycles shot at a supermarket belonging to the family of Antonela Roccuzzo, wife of Lionel Messi, in Rosario, in Argentina's Santa Fe province early on Thursday morning, local media and the city's mayor reported.

A threatening hand-written message for 35-year-old Messi, Argentina's captain and seven-times World Player of the Year, was also left on the shop door.

"Messi, we are waiting for you, (Pablo) Javkin (the mayor) is also a narco, he is not going to take care of you," it read.

PARIS - Lionel Messi was named FIFA player of the year 2022 on Monday as Argentina scooped all major men's awards after winning a vintage World Cup final last December.

The 35-year-old forward scored two goals in the final against France, with the South Americans emerging triumphant on penalties following a 3-3 draw after extra time in Qatar.