Photo of Messi with Macri turns Fernández’s defeat – 02/28/2023 – World

The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, accused the coup. “Some got rich and went to teach ethics at FIFA,” he said this Tuesday (28).

The statement was a response to his predecessor and political opponent, Mauricio Macri, current chief executive of the entity that commands football. Macri landed a photo that could have the power to boost his popularity in the country. He posed next to Lionel Messi, captain of the world champion team, minutes after the striker was voted the best player on the planet for the seventh time.

It was also in the image, posted by the politician on social networks, Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez, chosen as the main goalkeeper of 2022. The announcements were made at an event held in Paris this Monday. Coach Lionel Scaloni, winner in his category, was also in France, but did not appear in the photo.

There is nobody more popular in Argentina than Messi. His poster skyrocketed after leading the national team to winning the Qatar Cup. A title that had eluded the team for the previous 36 years. The victory put him on the same shelf as Diego Maradona, who died in 2020 and is the greatest idol of national sport.

In October, presidential elections take place in the country. The Frente de Todos, a political group to which Fernández belongs, and Macri’s PRO (Republican Proposal), have yet to define their candidates.

The photo of Macri, which could be considered harmless, caused an uproar because it was the image that Messi and the other champions denied Fernández. When the delegation arrived in Buenos Aires after winning the title, the president was waiting for the players at Casa Rosada. It is estimated that more than 3 million people took to the streets of the capital to receive them, and the police recommendation was to cancel the visit.

There was a suggestion that they could go to the government headquarters by helicopter, but the idea ended up rejected. The athletes’ decision was criticized by commentators on TV Pública, a channel maintained by the federal government. Journalist Nicolás Fiorentino called them “disqualified” for ignoring the Argentine leader.

Argentine presidents traditionally make political use of good selection campaigns. The image is always that of the ruler next to the athletes on the balcony of the Casa Rosada, waving to the crowd in Plaza de Mayo. With inflation and poverty on the rise, Fernández hoped to capitalize on the victory.

The image of Messi, who never gave political opinions and is averse to commenting on any subject that is not football – he claims to have only read one book in his life, “Yo soy el Diego”, Maradona’s autobiography -, was already valuable in the past. Before the World Cup in Brazil, in 2014, the prestige of the number 10 was disputed by then president Cristina Kirchner and Macri, then mayor of Buenos Aires.

It was the period when the Argentine federal government maintained Football for All, a state program that bought the rights to broadcast national league games and distributed them to broadcasters friendly to the national administration. It was about R$ 400 million a year paid by the public coffers. At the time, Public TV created the program “Mundo Leo” to talk exclusively about Messi.

Macri, on the other hand, closed an agreement with the player’s father, Jorge, for the idol to be the main poster boy for the Youth Games, based in Buenos Aires in 2018. To obtain the two-year contract, the former agent traveled to Barcelona in a secret which was soon leaked to the press by his allies.

The city paid about R$ 3 million to Lionel, but the money would have to be applied in social works maintained by the player in Rosário, his hometown. “Messi is above the parties,” reacted deputy Avelino Tamargo, an ally of Macri, in the face of criticism.

Kirchnerist Daniel Scioli made another offer right away: Messi would be the face of the Provincial Games. He offered more, but there was no deal. Meetings took place at the Casa Rosada at the time to discuss strategies to attract him to Kirchenism. There was even the idea of ​​making the player “the face of Peronism”. The Evita Games, played by children and young people of school age, a tribute to Eva Perón, wife of President Juan Domingo Perón, would be renamed Evita-Lionel Messi.

The photo of Macri with Messi hurt the government because Fernández was trying to find a way to paste his image to that of the number 10. Frente de Todos intended to pay tribute to the captain of the selection in the Chamber of Deputies as a way of having an official event to celebrate the world title.

PRO celebrated because it launched the pre-candidacy of the current mayor of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, for the Presidency. Macri has not yet expressed support because he still dreams of returning to power.

Messi’s apathy on the subject is due to the possibility that any gesture, even a photo, could be seen as a sign of support. Fernández never had to worry about that because the biggest reference in the country, Diego Maradona, always declared himself a Kirchnerist and hated Macri. Now he may have to worry.

Both like to be seen as ballers. Fernández is a fan of Argentinos Juniors, the team that revealed Maradona. Macri launched himself into public life as president of Boca Juniors, the most popular in Argentina.