President Alberto Fernández declared Monday a national holiday which would apply on Tuesday. This is so that everyone can enjoy the gold festival that has been going on since Sunday in the economically struggling country where inflation is approaching 100%.
A huge golden procession was planned for the national team, which would travel 30 kilometers in an open-top bus through the huge Argentine capital. But after four hours, the bus had progressed only 14 kilometers and when a select few from the huge crowd celebrating the Golden Heroes attempted to climb onto the open-top bus and the situation became increasingly chaotic, the players were evacuated in helicopter. More than 30 people are said to have been injured. One person tried to jump onto the bus from a bridge but missed and fell into the road instead.
According to the giant Argentine newspaper La Nacion, five million Argentines were on the streets.
After the flight over Buenos Aires, the helicopters unloaded the players at the headquarters of the Argentine Football Federation. President Claudio Tapia later accused the police of ruining the victory parade.
Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala and Angel di Maria then went by private plane home to Rosario.
