Messi wins over rivals on stormy night in Rio

As Lionel Messi emerged from the tunnel to warm up ahead of last Tuesday night's World Cup qualifier at the Maracanã, he demanded the attention of every set of eyes in the famous Rio de Janeiro stadium. Even Brazilians, the custodians of joga bonito, couldn't help but stare. The Brazilian side, who were already warming up at the other end of the pitch, could’ve decided to go through their paces au natural and nobody would've noticed. Messi just has that magnetic effect.

This is, of course, hardly a new revelation. But it was still a distinctly peculiar sight watching almost every head in the stadium tilt in the one direction to watch the diminutive star warm up in that nonchalant manner of his. The home crowd were acting like a classroom of testosterone-fuelled teenagers who were watching a model being introduced as their new substitute teacher. Phones were whipped out quicker than pistols in a western, with Brazilian children also holding up homemade posters in the Argentinian captain's honour.

When all is said and done, Brazilians just adore football and nobody does it better than the 36-year-old Inter Miami star.

After a short while stretching and performing snappy passing drills, Messi and a few of his teammates headed towards the box for some shooting practice. With his first attempt, the Argentinian whipped a shot off the post. The stadium howled in disappointment. Never have spectators been so engrossed in a warm-up routine. It was irrelevant that his teammates were smashing home screamers either side of Messi's attempt. Only one man mattered. As is his wont, Messi eventually hit the net and the home fans erupted as if it was the moment for which they had all come. Hardly anybody within the arena had noticed that Brazil had by then retreated back into their locker room ahead of the game.

The pre-theatre festivities eventually concluded and both teams emerged for a game that was hugely consequential by South American standards. Brazil were aiming to avoid their third consecutive defeat, and a fourth consecutive game within a win. Additionally, Brazil had never lost a World Cup qualifier on home soil. But with the side in disarray, Argentina were heavily fancied. That said, Argentina’s problems extended beyond the football pitch. Argentinian society is heavily fractured at the moment, living off the memories of last year's World Cup win in Qatar as the economy crumbles around them.

Inflation has soared by 124% over the last twelve months, with over 40% of the population descending into poverty. So for obvious reasons, much of society has grown disillusioned with the political establishment. That led to the election of Javier Milei, an eccentric far-right libertarian known as El Loco (The Madman), as president earlier this month. He plays from the same playbook as Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro. And as well as being a climate change denier and referring to the Pope as a "lefty son of a bitch", he has committed to abandoning the national currency, pesos, and adopting the dollar. In the process, he's committing to abolishing the country's central bank.

Amid this maelstrom, football has become Argentina's sanctuary. And they didn't need the Seleção impinging on their one release from society back home.

Everything was going smoothly back in the Maracanã until the anthems began and Brazil's military police baton-charged la Albiceleste fans. In response, the travelling fans ripped chairs from the ground and fired them at police. The stadium looked on in horror as some fans jumped on to the pitch in fear of the chaos.

After the anthems concluded, Argentina players briskly made their way towards that end of the ground in a bid to ease tensions. And it soon became apparent that they disapproved of the local authorities' heavy-handed approach, with goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez even attempting to grab the baton of an aggressive Brazilian police officer.

As order was restored, Argentina returned to the pitch visibly annoyed. And instead of setting up for kick-off, a visibly agitated Messi decided to lead his team back into the locker room. Brazil's fans were fuming. As he headed back into the tunnel, drinks and abuse rained down on him against a backdrop of vehement booing. The love affair was over.

Messi eventually led his team back out onto the pitch and the game finally kicked off almost half an hour behind schedule.

It was a quiet night at the office by his standards – and perhaps his most ineffective game in an Argentinian jersey to date. But he remained a threat throughout, having already proven on multiple occasions that he only needs a split second to turn a game on its head. In recent years, he has only been turning up for a few minutes in every game and has still proved deadly effective, almost single-handedly delivering his home country to Copa América and World Cup titles.

There were glimpses of his usual magic in an otherwise understandably tempestuous affair, with the home crowd growing frustrated with the Chilean officiating team they felt were unfairly penalising the home side.

By the time Messi was substituted in the 78th minute, the adulation from the Brazilian crowd had completely eroded. The visitors were 1-0 up thanks to a towering Nicolás Otamendi header in the 63rd minute and Brazil looked destined to continue their patchy form.

Brazilians don't take kindly to major losses on home soil, and the Maracanã has a particularly dark past in this regard. After losing to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup at the venue in front of over 178,000 spectators. Goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa was blamed for the defeat and remained a pariah in Brazilian society until he died in 2000. Although the most famous, he wasn't the only Brazilian player to suffer such a fate.

The home crowd would therefore likely be baying for blood again if their side's distinguished international record came to an end in what looks set to be Messi's final international game on Brazilian soil.

Some time after the final whistle, and after the Argentina team had celebrated the momentous occasion among their home fans after an unruly night in Rio, Brazilian fans were still waiting for Messi by the tunnel. But the tension had died down and they were able to subdue their anger to recognise the class of the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner.

After a brief shaky patch, the romance was back. Older fans applauded the star, while younger fans pleaded for his jersey. The very same fans were screaming obscenities in his direction earlier that night. That's the Messi effect: you just cannot but stand slack-jawed at his very presence – even if you're Brazilian. Especially if you're Brazilian.