‘Gracias Papa Lionel’: Watch Argentina release a touching Chrmas advert of a boy unboxing the World Cup trophy
Argentina FA has released a heart-touching advert of a boy unboxing the World Cup under the Chrmas tree.
The video is tweeted the Argentina FA with the caption: “Thank you Papa Lionel! The most precious gift is already at home. Congratulations to all the Argentine people!”
¡Gracias Papá Lionel! 🎅 El regalo más preciado ya está en casa 🏆
¡Felicidades para todo el pueblo argentino! 🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/lobbHa1hNR
— 🇦🇷 Selección Argentina ⭐⭐⭐ (@Argentina) December 24, 2022
In the video, the wide-eyed young boy can be seen rushing down the stairs before he is mesmerised a huge gift wrapped up in red ribbons. He carefully unravels it and opens the box – at which point he is greeted with the glening gold masterpiece that is the World Cup trophy. In utter disbelief, he picks up the trophy and exclaims ‘Gracias Papa Noel’ before kissing it.
In Argentina, Santa Claus is known as Papa Noel, but it has been changed to hail the national team captain Lionel Messi.
Lionel Messi has played a pivotal role in Argentina’s World Cup win in Qatar.
Messi was influential throughout the tournament in Qatar – and became the first ever footballer to win the Player of the Tournament award twice.
The World Cup is one trophy that has eluded Messi his whole career – including in 2014 when Argentina were defeated Germany in Rio.
This year’s final went down as one of the greatest ever seen with Messi scoring the opener from the penalty spot before Angel Di Maria doubled Argentina’s lead before half-time.
And while it looked like the trophy was all but secured, France’s superstar Kylian Mbappe took the game to extra-time with a late quick-fire brace.
During extra-time, the PSG stars each scored again to take the game to penalties but it was Messi’s Argentina who triumphed in the end and in turn gave the nation the best Chrmas present they could have wished for.