There was no trophy in the hold and no Lionel Messi on the tarmac, but that did not stop Buenos Aires from turning out to welcome its team home.
A day earlier, Argentina had lost the World Cup final 1-0 to Spain, beaten by a Ferran Torres strike deep into extra time after a goalless 90 minutes in which they failed to register a single shot on target. It denied Lionel Scaloni's side the chance to defend the title they won in Qatar in 2022, and left Spain celebrating their first world championship since 2010.
The squad's charter touched down at Ezeiza International Airport on Monday evening, and despite the disappointment of the final, thousands of supporters lined the closed-off Ricchieri highway leading from the airport toward the Argentine Football Association's training complex, waving sky-blue-and-white flags in the cold and rain.
Players made the short journey by open-top bus rather than the full victory parade laid on after 2022, waving back to fans who had waited for hours to see them, win or lose.
Among the crowd, the mood was one of gratitude rather than grief. One fan said she wanted to thank the team's veteran captain for "all the years he made us happy" and urged him not to walk away from the national team; another said simply that the squad had "united us all" and deserved thanks for that alone.
Messi was not among those who made the trip. The Argentine federation said only that some squad members would not be on the returning flight, and local broadcasters showed no sign of him coming down the aircraft steps. His whereabouts and his plans for international football beyond this tournament remain unclear.
For Scaloni, the reception closes an extraordinary run: the same coach who lifted the trophy in Qatar four years ago now becomes one of a small group of managers to have finished both champion and runner-up at a World Cup.
Fans pointed to the road that got them here as much as the final itself — most of all a stirring semi-final win over England, a result that carried extra emotional weight given the two countries' long-standing dispute over the Falkland Islands.
Not every scene on Monday night was as warm. Hours after the airport reception, thousands gathered around the Obelisco in central Buenos Aires for informal celebrations that turned violent when a group breached barriers around the monument. Police responded with tear gas and a water cannon, and at least a dozen people were detained as officers and bystanders were hurt in the chaos.
For a squad that arrived home with silver rather than gold, it was a reminder of how much the run still meant to a fanbase that turned out anyway — cold, wet and without their captain, but not ready to let the team walk home alone.
