A passenger on a flight from Buenos Aires to Barcelona decided he wouldn't miss the match between Argentina and Egypt in the round of 16 of the , and purchased the onboard wifi service to watch it live. What started as an individual gesture ended up turning the entire cabin into an impromptu grandstand at 10,000 meters in altitude.
The passenger stood up from his seat, laptop in hand, so the rest could see, and gradually, the travelers on the flight gathered around his screen. The video shared by El Español on Instagram went viral within hours.
The match that ignited madness in the stands couldn't have been more dramatic. Argentina found itself down 0-2: Yasser Ibrahim opened the scoring in the 15th minute with a header from a corner, and Mostafa Ziko extended Egypt's lead in the 67th. To make matters worse, Lionel Messi missed a penalty in the 21st minute, saved by goalkeeper Mohamed Sobeir, making him the player with the most missed penalties in World Cup history, with four.
But in just 14 minutes, the Argentine national team staged one of the tournament's most epic comebacks. Cristian "Cuti" Romero scored with a header in the 79th minute, Messi redeemed himself with a spectacular volley in the 83rd minute to equalize, and Enzo Fernández netted the decisive goal at 3-2 with another header in added time.
It was precisely in those final minutes when the passengers' screams echoed in the cabin, and in the video, the collective uproar of those who experienced Argentina's qualification without stepping into any stadium can be heard.
It was the first historical match between Argentina and Egypt in a World Cup, and those who experienced it on that flight will hardly forget it.
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