Watch: Lionel Messi Unhappy After Pitch Invader Forcibly Grabs Him To Take Selfie After World Cup Qualifying Match vs Ecuador

The world football governing body FIFA is yet to come to terms with the Mohamed Salah incident in Egypt's match vs Senegal recently, which had threatened the security of the player involved. A similar security breach happened in Argentina's World Cup 2022 qualifying match vs Ecuador played at the Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha, when a pitch invader forcibly grabbed Argentina captain Lionel Messi by the neck in his bid to take a selfie with the football great. Though the fan, who was wearing an Ecuador jersey, managed to get hold of an angry Messi through his camera lens, he was soon taken off the ground by the security personnel.

Post this incident, the fan took to Instagram to show off his picture as well as a brief video with the "best player of all time" and even wrote a long note praising Messi.

"You only live once and once is enough for me because I met the greatest player of all time. Mi querido @leomessi, thank you for all the happy moments you have given me throughout the years with your beautiful football. I love you and this game. #Messi,."

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This was Argentina's last qualifying match for the World Cup 2022 that ended in a 1-1 draw.

Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Ecuador booked a place in the World Cup 2022 finals while Peru made it to the play-offs from South America.

Argentina stood second in the South American qualifying points table with 11 wins and six draws from 17 games. 

Brazil ended as the table-toppers with 14 wins and 3 draws while Uruguay took the third spot with eight wins from 18 games, enduring six losses in the process. Ecuador also qualified as they registered 7 wins, six losses and five draws from 18 matches.

Topics mentioned in this article

Argentina Ecuador Lionel Messi Football Egypt Mohamed Salah