World Cup winners Argentina were almost wiped out by street cable on open-top bus parade as millions of Argentinians gushed out to welcome their heroes.
Millions of rapturous Argentine fans crowded to greet the Qatar World Cup champions after their plane landed successfully following a 19-hour journey home.
The new world champions returned home to continue with their celebrations after lifting the World Cup trophy in Qatar on Sunday, December 18.
Upon returning home victorious, they immediately boarded an open top bus.
And despite the players returning in the middle of the night, millions of Argentinians lined up the streets to give their stars a heroic welcome.
However, the cheerful scenes almost swerved to a disaster for five of Argentina players who sat on the roof of the bus.
Messi, Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes, Angel Di Maria and Nicolas Otamendi almost ended up in a disaster amidst the blissful welcoming from fans.
The players all sat on the top of the back of the bus, with Lionel Messi holding the World Cup between his legs, when the five players were almost caught out by an overhead cable.
The footage of their near-miss with the cable saw Atletico Madrid midfielder Rodrigo de Paul sighting it late and alerting his other team-mates as he dodged it just in time.
All the five stars had to quickly duck out of the way to avoid the possibility of being injured.
Meanwhile, Paredes was so close to the cable that the wire took off the baseball cap he was wearing.
Despite the occurrence potentially being harmful, the long bus was in a proper motion with Lionel Messi and the other players not trembling.
The team headed to the Argentine Football Association (AFA) training ground, where Messi posed for a picture in bed with the trophy.
Meanwhile, the 2022 FIFA World Cup champions Argentina were eventually evacuated by helicopter as the victory parade was abandoned when fans leapt off a bridge onto the team bus.
At least one of the supporters in the massive crowd was carried away on a stretcher as the World Champion Lionel Messi and his teammates were escorted away overhead.
Several fans clambered down from a bridge in Buenos Aires onto the moving bus to hail the returning champions when it passed underneath.
According to some reports, the crowd who had gathered to hail their heroes were estimated to be around four million people.
And the Argentine football chiefs admitted their disappointment at ending the tour early and revealed the players had to complete their journey by helicopter to ensure their safety.
A spokesman for the Argentina FA said: “The players of the Argentine soccer team ended the festivities by flying over in a helicopter over the crowd of fans who gathered in the city.
“They made that decision after verifying that they could not continue advancing by bus in the middle of the crowd.”
And AFA president Claudio Tapia added: “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.”
The World Cup champions welcoming escapade was such a chaotic and distressing scenes but it ended peacefully as no casualties were recorded.
