A thwarted comeback. The Argentine selection, which won the 2022 World Cup, began a helicopter flight over Buenos Aires on Tuesday afternoon, abandoning a victory parade by bus that had become “impossible” due to “the explosion of popular joy”, announced the presidency.
“The world champions fly over the entire planned route in helicopters, because it has become impossible to continue by road,” said in a tweet the spokesperson for the presidency Gabriela Cerruti. “Let us continue to celebrate in peace, and show them our love and admiration.” More than 4 million peopleaccording to a source from the municipality, had massed on the route of the team, between the complex of the Argentine Federation (AFA) 32 km from the capital, and the heart of the city.
The bus slowed down by the crowd
A few minutes ago, the president of the AFA Chiqui Tapia announced that the security authorities “are not letting us get to the end to greet all the people who were waiting at the Obelisk”. “A thousand apologies on behalf of all champion players,” he added in a tweet.
Leaving at 11:45 a.m. (2:45 p.m. GMT) from the AFA headquarters, the bus of the now Argentinian “tri-campeones” was to reach the Obelisk, the nerve center of the celebrations. But he had only traveled about ten kilometers three hours later, slowed down along the way by tens of thousands of supporters wearing sky and white jerseys, AFP noted.
Argentinian television footage showed, at one point along the route, a fan attempting to jump onto the players’ bus as it passed just under a road bridge, but missing his reception, and ending his fall in the compact crowd following the bus on foot.