Shaw Field, home of the Georgetown men’s and women’s soccer teams, got a taste of the international spotlight last week when it hosted Lionel Messi and the rest of the Argentina national soccer team.

For a still undisclosed fee, the team used Georgetown’s facilities Tuesday through Thursday generally during the afternoons in preparation for its friendly exhibition match against El Salvador on Saturday at FedEx Field, which it won 2-0.

As part of the practices, players from Georgetown’s men’s soccer team assisted the training sessions, both as active participants and ball-fetchers.

“It was a tremendous opportunity for our student-athletes to see some of the best players in the world and to have the experience of a lifetime by training with them,” Assistant Athletics Director for Communications Michael Carey wrote in an email.

Hundreds of fans flocked to campus to watch practice and catch a glimpse of their favorite players.

Although Shaw Field was closed to the general public, both students and fans from near and far watched from the perimeter of the field and from the Leavey Esplanade. Prior to practice starting, families played pickup soccer on Kehoe Field and tried to position themselves to get autographs.

The Argentinian national team was the runner-up in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, losing in the final to Germany, but many fans expressed that they were just there to see forward and Argentina captain Messi, the highest-paid player in sports, four-time Ballon d’Or winner and star of FC Barcelona.

“I came to see Messi because he’s the best player in the world,” Alex Marotte, a 14-year-old from Pittsburgh, Pa., said. “Better than any I’ve ever seen.”

Matt Parks (GRD ’16) attended practice Thursday and watched from atop the Leavey Center.

“I just really appreciate that we have one of the best athletes in the world and the runner up in the World Cup here,” Parks said. “It was such a cool experience, even though we were watching from far on the ledge.”

Georgetown has previously hosted the U.S. national men’s soccer team and professional teams from Major League Soccer, including the Los Angeles Galaxy earlier this year.

With so many fans coming to campus to see Messi, the Georgetown University Police Department was faced with security concerns regarding crowd management.

“We were concerned about fans coming to the event since he’s a pretty popular soccer player,” GUPD Chief of Police Jay Gruber said. “We hired some contingencies to provide security to the perimeter of Shaw Field and for the ingress of the team to the field, and of their outbound leaving the field.”

Despite the security presence, around a dozen fans ran onto the field as the players were preparing to leave, at the end of practice Wednesday. No students were involved in the incident, and no arrests were made.

Max Cohen-Casado (SFS ’18) went to all three days of practice and witnessed the incident on Wednesday.

“I was very upset because the people that ran onto the field got all their jerseys signed, whereas the fans waiting patiently behind the barricade didn’t get anything signed,” Cohen-Casado said. “The fans that ran onto the field didn’t receive any sort of punishment other than being told to leave.”

Following the incident, GUPD increased security for Thursday’s practice, setting up barricades and preventing fans from getting as close to the field.

Despite the increased security, Tatiana Shashou (MSB ’17), who attended Thursday’s practice, described how fans still tried to break through and get on the field.

“It looked like tons of supporters had come far just for Messi, because there was a mix of not only students, but children and adults all wearing Messi shirts in support and excitement,” Shashuo said. “It was completely blocked off to a point where we saw two men try to make a run for it before being tackled down by a police officer and escorted out.”

Gruber praised his staff for the job they did during the event.

“Nobody was placed under arrest, nobody was barred from the university,” Gruber said. “There were no incidents that truly would have concerned me. We handled a large crowd pretty effectively.”

On Friday, a crowd of around 30 people had gathered by 2:15 p.m. and continued to grow steadily in anticipation of the scheduled practice. However, practice on Friday occurred at FedEx Field instead of Shaw.

“Argentina was holding a press conference for international and local media at FedEx Field, and they chose to hold practice there at the same time,” Carey said.

By 4 p.m., the fans had all gone home in disappointment, save for two still hopeful boys wearing Lionel Messi jerseys, kicking a soccer ball back and forth in front of Shaw.