Buenos Aires: A crestfallen Lionel Messi kept a low profile as thousands of people greeted the Argentina squad on their return home on Monday, just hours after their World Cup final defeat to Germany.


President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (right) applauds Lionel Messi (left) during a welcoming ceremony. Pic/AFP 

Television networks carried live coverage of the Aerolineas Argentinas plane — painted in the blue-and-white colors of the flag with the words "Thank you Argentina" — as it touched down in Buenos Aires, where about 500 fans braved the cold to meet the flight from Rio de Janeiro.