The confused mascot boy gave an object that looked like a lucky charm to the Argentine superstar, but in the end goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was the one to use the gift.

The video recorded the scene of the mascot boy exchanging gifts with captain Lionel Messi in the tunnel before he and his teammates took the field in the Ecuador match on September 8, attracting attention. The boy stood at the front of the line, high-fiving the Argentinian superstar from the start, but it took a while before he pulled out an object that looked like a lucky charm from his pocket. Gathering all his courage, the boy gave it to Messi.

The father of three received the gift from the mascot boy but was confused and didn’t know what to do, so he gave it to an employee standing nearby. Standing behind and witnessing the conversation between the boy and captain Messi, goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez immediately offered to take the boy’s gift and put it in his sock.

In the following match against Ecuador, Messi scored the only goal of the match from a free kick, helping host Argentina get off to a good start in the opening match of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America. On September 13, the striker born in 1987 and his teammates were guests at Bolivia in the second match.