Lionel Messi fans scale mountains to catch glimpse of Argentina star ahead of Bolivia game

Lionel Messi played the full 90 minutes on Tuesday as Argentina scored a 2-1 win over Bolivia at the Hernando Siles stadium in La Paz, one of the highest professional stadiums in the world. The match was a decent affair as Argentina continued their fine start to the World Cup qualification campaign with back-to-back wins. Furthermore, it also marked the first time Argentina scored a victory away against Bolivia since 2005. 

Despite the win, much of the talk surrounding the game was dominated by some die-hard fans of Lionel Messi, who were not afraid of scaling the mountain top just to get a glimpse of the Barcelona captain during his training sessions ahead of the match. After all, it is not quite often that the six-time Ballon d'Or winner brings his magic to La Paz. The last time Lionel Messi visited the stadium was way back in 2013 when Argentina played out a 1-1 draw with the hosts in a World Cup qualifier. 

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Despite the altitude of the stadium, located about 3,600 meters above sea level, fans hiked up the adjacent mountains to watch Lionel Messi in training. Some fans were even spotted standing on rooftops of the nearby buildings with binoculars in their hands as they tried to get the best possible view of the training session held at the club complex, The Strongest.

Meanwhile, another section of fans used a drone to capture Argentina's training session on Tuesday. According to Mundo Deportivo, the drone lasted about a quarter of an hour before local police took it down at the request of Argentina's coaching staff. The report states the coaches suspected it was a strategy deployed by Bolivia head coach Cesar Farías to spy on opposition tactics. 

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Bolivia vs Argentina: Martinez racks up surprise stat

Marcelo Moreno opened the scoring for the hosts before Lautaro Martinez brought the game back to level terms right at the stroke of the first half. The Internazionale hitman's goal was the first time an Argentine other than Lionel Messi scored in a World Cup Qualifier since 2016. Lionel Messi played a crucial role in Argentina's winner in the second period as the Barcelona star found Martinez behind the Bolivia defence, who then teed up Joaquin Correa for a simple finish. With two wins in two games, Argentina occupy second place in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers, tied on points with Brazil. 

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(Image Credits: FIFA World Cup Twitter)