The team arrived in the early hours at Ezeiza city airport, where despite it being around 3am local time (7pm Tuesday NZ time) thousands were waiting with banners, flags and flares, and howling in joy at the victory, which came 36 years after the country's last World Cup victory.
By around midday in Argentina hundreds of thousands had congregated in downtown Buenos Aires, with major roads shut down for the parade. People held up banners of Messi and late icon Diego Maradona, played instruments or climbed lampposts or bus stops.