Pablo Zabaleta gets Buenos Aires feel in Qatar as fans flock to World Cup to see Lionel Messi

Pablo Zabaleta feels like a little bit of Buenos Aires has come to Qatar given the way Argentina fans have flocked to the Middle East to support Lionel Messi in his quest for glory at his last World Cup.

From flags along Al Wakrah beach to drumming on metros running through Doha, la Albiceleste’s fervent support outweighs any other nation at the winter tournament.

Argentina also feel like one of the neutral’s favourites in Qatar thanks to the pull of star turn Messi, with the 35-year-old admitting last month that this is likely to be his fifth and final World Cup.

“It’s like being in Buenos Aires,” former Argentina full-back Zabaleta, who played alongside Messi in the 2014 World Cup final loss to Germany, told the PA news agency.

“It’s something that, to be honest, I’m very surprised about because Qatar is far from Argentina. It’s not easy to get here you know and it costs a lot money in flights, accommodation.

“But I think it’s because of the moment of the team before the World Cup – winning the Copa America, 36 games unbeaten – expectation was really high and probably Messi’s last World Cup as well.

“People just want to come on and enjoy probably the last few games of Messi in a World Cup.

“I think I can see that Messi is enjoying every single minute of it.

“The fans and everyone back in Argentina are showing so much love for Messi and it would be brilliant to see Messi going into the World Cup final again.

“We’ve been very close in 2014. We know how much it means for Messi playing and representing his country. It won’t be easy. That’s the reality.”

Messi has scored three goals in Qatar so far but a shock defeat to Saudi Arabia had fans fearing the tournament could be over at the group stage.

Lionel Scaloni’s side rallied to beat Mexico and Poland to win their group and edged past Australia in the round of 16 to set up a mouthwatering quarter-final clash against the Netherlands.