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As the president of the United States you'd think Barack Obama's position would afford him the opportunity to meet anyone, including one of Argentina's favourite footballing sons.

However, even Obama has failed in his quest to meet reigning Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi. The 44th American president is currently visiting Argentina and had hoped to meet the 28-year-old - with his daughters, Sasha and Malia, avid admirers of the forward's footballing ability.

However, like many a defender can testify, the opportunity to get close to Messi eluded the Obama family although they did bump into another famous Argentine, Pope Francis.

'I also wanted to bring my daughters here, so they could see the beauty and the vibrancy of [Buenos Aires],' Obama said. 'They've already met one famous Argentinean - His Holiness Pope Francis. Now they want to meet Messi, but I could not arrange that.'

Messi is currently hoping to lead Argentina to victory in their 2018 World Cup qualifier at Chile on Thursday. Captain Messi was injured for Argentina's first four qualifiers last year for the 2018 finals in Russia and the team suffered in his absence.

They took just five points from those games to sit outside the qualifying berths in sixth place in the South American group. 

Argentina are seven points behind leaders Ecuador, who upset Gerardo Martino's side 2-0 in their opening qualifier in Buenos Aires in October, four behind Uruguay and two behind Brazil, Paraguay and Chile.

After 18 rounds of matches, the top four teams in the 10-nation South American group qualify for the finals while the fifth goes into an intercontinental play-off.