Belo Horizonte, Brazil - Thousands of Brazilians followed Argentina's training session on site in Belo Horizonte on Wednesday, and passionately cheered for Argentine star Lionel Messi.
“Argentina, Argentina!” shouted a major portion of the 6 000 fans, most of them Brazilian, at Independencia stadium.
South American neighbours Brazil and Argentina have long been arch-rivals when it comes to football. Fans loudly cheered for Messi several times over the course of the light training session, which ended abruptly when several fans stormed onto the pitch.
Two of them ran up to Messi: one pretended to shine the Argentina captain and superstar striker's boots, while the other one hugged him.
Security personnel escorted the over-excited fans out. Argentina, who are hoping to win in Brazil the third World Cup title in their history, are set to play their first game of the tournament against Bosnia-Herzegovina Sunday, in Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium.
Sapa-dpa