Excitement for Sunday's World Cup final, when Argentina will face defending champion France in Qatar, is rising fast and anxiety is running particularly high in Messi's hometown, Rosario, as many are hoping this will be the year when Messi finally wins the one major trophy that has been missing from his illustrious career.
Aerial view of a mural depicting the Argentine football star Lionel Messi in Rosario, Argentina, taken on October 20, 2022. - Local passion, makeshift pitches, good nutrition and a touch of magic are the combo that makes the northern city of Rosario a breeding ground for the best players in Argentinian football, with Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria being the most recent representatives in Qatar.
The neighborhood popularly known as La Bajada has turned into a sort of altar for Messi with murals and graffiti that praise the soccer star. With the World Cup, "there has been an explosion in the neighborhood," where "we're all like brothers," he added, noting that after every Argentina victory people celebrate in the streets until the early hours of the morning.
"He was a quiet and dutiful student, responsible with what he had to do for school and well loved by his classmates ... especially during the breaks to play ball," Sosa said in one of the classrooms of the school that has chipped paint across many of its walls. "He was very focused on soccer. "We've even seen people praying here," said 21-year-old Valentina Rota, who lives in the building. "There's a whole feeling of belonging because he was born around the corner, he's one of us, he's a neighbor."
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