- Alex Ovechkin plans to attend Sunday’s World Cup Final at MetLife Stadium
- The Capitals captain is a longtime Lionel Messi fan who first met him in 2015
- Read below for Ovi’s reaction video and his Messi jersey from Fanatics Fest
Alex Ovechkin is getting a front-row seat for his favorite athlete’s biggest night.
The Capitals captain plans to be at MetLife Stadium on Sunday for the FIFA World Cup Final, where Lionel Messi and Argentina take on Spain for the trophy. Ovechkin’s agent, Gleb Chistyakov, confirmed the plan to Russian outlet TASS, as relayed by RMNB.
This one clearly means something to Ovi. He has been a die-hard Messi fan for more than a decade, and when Argentina rallied past France to reach the final last week, he lost it.
Watch Ovechkin lose his mind over Messi punching a ticket to the final:
Their history goes back to 2015. Ovechkin met Messi when Argentina played El Salvador at what was then FedEx Field, and he handed the soccer star a signed jersey. He called it “one of the best moments” at the time.
That obsession has only grown since. Ovechkin flew back to the United States this weekend for Fanatics Fest in New York, where he signed autographs and posed with a Messi jersey of his own.
Check out Ovi with the Messi jersey at the Javits Center:
The New York stop was already a busy one for the 40-year-old, who surprised fans at the hockey booths over the weekend.
Sunday’s final caps a World Cup held across North America. Messi, at 39, is chasing a second title, while Spain leans on teenage star Lamine Yamal.
Now Ovi gets the encore. Argentina and Spain kick off at 3 p.m. ET, with the greatest goal-scorer in NHL history watching the greatest scorer in soccer go for one more.
