Lionel Messi Arrives for Friendly in Saudi Arabia, Stares Down Barrel of Gun

Welcome to Saudi Arabia, Lionel Messi. Don't mind this big gun in your face. You're going to love it here.

As the world prepares for a midweek slate of international friendlies, we take you to the Middle East, specifically Suadi Arabia. That's where Messi and Argentina are scheduled to play an international friendly on Wednesday against their hosts.

Upon arriving in Saudi Arabia, Messi and his teammates were treated to quite the hectic arrival. How hectic? Messi had a big, scary gun pointed in his face a couple times.

The video appears above. It's our Set Piece Video of the Day for this Tuesday. Er, enjoy?

The fun stuff starts around the 3:00 mark, when Messi is whisked past a group of fans by the gun-toting authorities.

If the footage is a bit difficult to make out, click here to see some revealing still photography from the incident.

So what kind of gun was it? We suspected it was an AK-47, so we asked a friend who's knowledgeable about these sorts of things. The response:

"

Yes, but it may be an AK 74... Which is the same as an AK47, but shoots the same round as M16 (5.56mm).... Safe to say an AK47 though.

"

Hooray for gun lovers! Now we know (probably, at least) that Messi can add to his résumé that he has stared down the barrel of an AK-47 in Saudi Arabia. If only we could see what kind of ammo they were packing…

So now, a question arises. On Monday, we brought you the tale of Cristiano Ronaldo playing through a gruesome eye injury and scoring a manly man's goal regardless.

That was pretty impressive, no matter what you think of CR7. But what about Messi? Is playing through a bloody eye more macho than staring down an AK-47?

You decide.

(h/t 101 Great Goals)

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