Lionel Messi bid an emotional farewell to Argentina on October 6 after playing his final international match in a 3-0 victory over Benin at Buenos Aires’ Monumental Stadium. In front of more than 85,000 fans, Messi scored a penalty and provided two assists, completing his 21-year international career with 208 appearances and 126 goals. Fighting back tears, the Argentine captain called leaving the national team the “saddest day” of his career and thanked his teammates and supporters.

In the above context, a video showing a massive crowd packed onto a multi-layered elevated overpass has gone viral on social media.

A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “Crazy scenes in Argentina ahead of Lionel Messi’s farewell. The entire country is out to celebrate Messi today.”

SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral video is from Argentina’s 2022 World Cup victory.

On a Google reverse image search, we found that the same video was shared by the YouTube channel of ESPN FC on December 20, 2022. The caption associated with the video read, “4 MILLION people in the streets of Argentina.”

Another sports-related Instagram page, CBS Sports Golazo, also shared the same video on 20, 2022, with a caption that reads, "Absolute scenes in Buenos Aires for Argentina’s victory parade."

Taking a hint, we searched with relevant keywords, and we found that the incident was also reported by CBS News on December 21, 2022. According to the report, an estimated crowd of four million jubilant soccer fans flooded the streets and even highways of Buenos Aires as Argentina tried to hold a victory parade for its World Cup champions.

Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.