Lionel Messi and Lionel Scaloni They share something more than a world title: twenty years of common history that were immortalized in a video that went viral this week and generated thousands of reactions on social networks.
The clip begins with a scene that few remember: the May 30, 2006in the friendly prior to the World Cup in Germany against Angola at the Arechi stadium in SalernoItaly. That night, a young man Messi 19-year-old entered in the second half, while Scalonithen West Ham right-back, was on the bench. But the turning point of the compilation came days later, the June 24when Argentina won 2 to 1 to Mexico in the round of 16. After the goal of Maximiliano Rodríguez In the 97th minute, Messi ran to hug his teammate with a euphoria that no one then interpreted as the beginning of a historic bond.
The second part of the video jumps directly to Qatar 2022. The same hug, sixteen years later, but with the World Cup in the middle. Messi and Scaloni, now captain and technical director of the Argentine National Teamthey merge into the grass of the Lusail Stadium after the victory in the final against France for penalties. The emotion of both, overflowing, contrasts with that youthful celebration in Germany and closes the arc of a relationship that spanned more than two decades.
The video, which was widely circulated in the run-up to the World Cup 2026was taken as a sign of good omen by Argentine fans who closely follow the campaign of the Scaloneta in the competition held this time in United States, Mexico and Canada. The clip accumulates millions of views and hundreds of comments that repeat, in different words, the same idea: that that hug in Italy was the beginning of something that has not yet ended.
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