Sports

Fans invade pitch at Argentina training in Belo Horizonte

Associated Press
Published | Updated

A fan who invaded the pitch shines the cleats of Argentina's Lionel Messi at the end of a training session at Independencia Stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Wednesday, June 11, 2014. Argentina will play in group F of the Brazil 2014 soccer World Cup. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano) (The Associated Press)

A security guards grab two fans who invaded the pitch, one resembling Brazilian soccer fan Ronaldinho, top, at the end of the training session of the Argentine team at Independencia Stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Wednesday, June 11, 2014. Argentina will play in group F of the Brazil 2014 soccer World Cup. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano) (The Associated Press)

Argentina's open training session ended in disorder on Wednesday as more than a dozen fans invaded the pitch.

Security guards couldn't stop the fans from running up to Lionel Messi and his teammates as they walked off the pitch at Independencia stadium in Belo Horizonte.

One fan knelt down in front of Messi and started shining the Argentina captain's boots. Messi laughed, received a hug from the fan and gave him his sweater before a security guard pulled him away.

Other fans ran off with one of the balls that the Argentines had used during the training session.

Some 10,000 people watched the session, many of them Brazilians wearing the shirt of Brazil's biggest rival.