Lionel Messi mania at fever pitch as Argentina beat Australia in Beijing

BEIJING – Lionel Messi mania gripped a sweltering city of Beijing on Thursday, ahead of a sell-out friendly in the evening between world champions Argentina and Australia in the Chinese capital.

All eyes were on the Argentinian superstar, the greatest footballer of his generation, who lifted the World Cup in December.

The 35-year-old did not disappoint, scoring after only 79 seconds before German Pezzella secured a 2-0 win for the South Americans in the 68th minute.

Ahead of the match, thousands of Chinese fans braved temperatures of nearly 40 deg C, gathering at Beijing’s newly renovated Workers’ Stadium several hours before the 8pm kick-off.

Many came clad in replica Argentina shirts emblazoned with Messi’s name and No. 10, while others had daubed their faces with sky-blue and white paint or were excitedly clasping flags.

Security guards also had to corral hundreds of fans behind barriers outside the western gate to the ground, where the Argentina team coach was due to enter.

When the match kicked off, fans immediately got their money’s worth when Argentina won the ball in Australia’s half and Enzo Fernandez found Messi, who sidestepped two defenders before beating the goalkeeper with a curling shot from outside the box.

Messi, who last week confirmed he wanted to move to American side Inter Miami, has now scored in seven straight games for Argentina and the country’s talisman has shown no signs of slowing down ahead of his 36th birthday next week.

A sea of blue and white had greeted the teams as they stepped out, with an overwhelming majority of the 68,000 capacity crowd sporting Argentina jerseys.

“I can’t see any yellow shirts anywhere,” Australia coach Graham Arnold said. “I just really hope Lionel Messi gets a little percentage of the shirt sales because I’ve never seen so many Argentinian No. 10 shirts in my life!”

It was clear who the Chinese fans were rooting for, not any other Argentinian player – only Messi.

Lawyer Zhong Xiaoqing, 40, from eastern Zhejiang province told AFP that Messi was his “perfect idol”.

“Messi is the greatest player of all time,” he said. “I was completely enamoured the first time I saw him play in 2005. He’s a model for me – my perfect idol.”

For 29-year-old human resources worker Sun Bingxin from northern Shanxi province, the excitement had been overwhelming.

“I’ve been so pent up about it that I feel like I could cry with joy,” she said before kick-off.

“Every football fan in China has wanted to be here tonight, so it’ll be a spectacular occasion.”

Liu Rui, a 24-year-old student from Nanjing in eastern Jiangsu province, said being at the match was really a “dream come true”.

“In 40 years’ time, I can tell my grandchildren about this,” he said.

The excitement had been building up for days. Hundreds of flag-waving fans camped outside the team’s luxury hotel since they touched down on Saturday.

Crowds have lined heavily guarded streets hoping to catch a glimpse of Messi each time the team went for training.

The man himself has kept a low profile, but that has done little to dampen enthusiasm.

One daring fan recounted his tale of spending the night inside the Four Seasons Hotel in a bid to get a close encounter with Messi and his teammates.

“I first hid in the janitor’s closet, then went up to the team’s floor through the fire escape staircase,” said the man, who wanted to be known only as Lin.

He was questioned by hotel security before being released.

Another fan, Li Weihua, said he had flown from his home city of Shenzhen in southern China, heading straight to the hotel.

He did not even have a ticket for the match.

“I just want to feel the environment,” said the 29-year-old, who had never been to Beijing before.

Huang Yongming, 17, from the north-eastern city of Changchun, was more successful in getting a highly coveted ticket.

“I spent around 3,000 yuan (S$560) for a ticket,” he said.

“I know it’s expensive, but I thought that if I didn’t take the opportunity, I would regret it.” AFP