Lionel Messi or ‘they’re scared of us’: Argentina’s Moneta on hostile French crowd

When 80,000 sports fans are making it pretty clear they want you to fail, that’s either going to make or break you as an athlete. For Argentina’s rugby sevens superstar Marcos Moneta, the hostile French crowd is something he can’t help but “enjoy.”

SVNS Series League Winners Argentina are widely considered one of the gold medal favourites at the Paris Olympics, but it’s both clear and understandable that the Parisian supporters want to see France triumph this week.

Les Bleus Sevens played Argentina in the SVNS Series Grand Final at Madrid’s Civitas Metropolitano early last month and, incredibly, they got the job done. After finishing fifth in the regular season, France did enough to claim the overall Series title.

But with that now in the past and it all to play for at Stade de France over the next couple of days, Argentina will continue to go about their business on the sevens pitch with or without the support of the crowd.

2023 World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year nominee Marcos Moneta has questioned whether the French are still hurt about Lionel Messi and Argentina beating Les Bleus on penalties in the FIFA World Cup Final.

“I enjoy it a lot. I don’t know if they’re hurt because of Messi, because of the World Cup,” Moneta said with a smile on the Olympics broadcast, as seen on Stan Sport in Australia.

“(Maybe it’s) because they don’t like us because maybe they’re scared of us, I don’t know.”

It’s a bit of a rugby miracle to see Moneta on the field this week. The 24-year-old from Buenos Aires suffered a devastating leg injury at the prestigious Hong Kong Sevens earlier this year which seemed to put his Olympic dreams in doubt.

Moneta was part of the Argentina side that claimed a bronze medal three years ago in Tokyo after beating Great Britain 17-12, and the speedster has played a key role in their continued success on the SVNS Series over the years.

But with Moneta going down injured, Los Pumas Sevens lost their way.

Players walked down the tunnel and didn’t say a word. Many of the players weren’t crying but you could see the emotion on their faces as they prepared to group together for a huddle without their injured teammate.

Moneta jumped on a plane during that event to fly back to Argentina. Back in South America, the sevens star had an x-ray which confirmed that he’d broken his fibula, but more results were needed to determine the extent of the injury.

With doctors looking to see if there was ligament damage, it was that result which was “define if I could reach” the Paris Olympics or not. It was a nervy few days, but after waking up one morning, Moneta heard five dream-like words: “You can go to Paris.”

“It was a tough couple of months since the injury. I had one objective, one goal and that was to reach here,” he explained.

“I’m really happy to be here with all the guys.

“Let’s go and look for the best tournament possible.

“It feels really good,” he added when asked about the injury. “When I’m resting it sometimes hurts but when I get inside the pitch, I forget about the pain.

“We did a really good recovery so I’m really happy for that. It’s time to enjoy.”

Argentina are off to a perfect start at the Paris Olympics after beating Kenya 31-12 and Samoa 28-12 on the opening day. They’ll take on an undefeated Australian outfit on day two to determine who they face in the quarter-finals.