Lionel Messi Nearly Knocked Off Argentina Bus In Scary Moment At World Cup Parade

A triumphant return to Argentina on Tuesday nearly turned disastrous for Lionel Messi and a couple of his other star teammates ... who were all almost thrown off the roof of a bus by a low-hanging street wire.

The scary moment happened as Messi and the Argentinian national team were taking laps around Buenos Aires to celebrate their World Cup title over France.

Messi -- sitting beside Leandro Paredes, Rodrigo De Paul, Angel Di Maria and Nicolas Otamendi -- didn't see a power line coming his bus' way ... and it almost clocked him and his teammates right in the heads.

It actually ended up clipping Paredes -- who lost his hat in the collision -- but, thankfully, all of the guys were able to move out of the way ... and keep the World Cup party going.

The scene was WILD in Argentina as the guys made their way through Buenos Aires following the close call -- thousands of fans lined streets for the second day since the big win ... this time, with some climbing to the top of the city's Obelisco to cheer on the soccer team.

It was chaos around the guys' bus, too ... as everyone tried to get an up-close look at the new world champs.

Despite the scare earlier in the day and the pandemonium in the streets ... everyone made it back home OK -- including Messi, who took the World Cup trophy with him to bed.

"Buen día!" he said in his caption on the pic.