Messi’s World Cup photo turned out to be fake

During the celebration of the victory of the Argentina national team, in addition to the real trophy, there was a replica of the World Cup on the field. Clarin writes about it.

The fake cup was made by Argentine fans six months before the World Cup. It was planned that all the players of the national team would put their autographs on it. However, at the solemn ceremony, a copy inexplicably ended up in the hands of Lionel Messi, who began to pose with her in front of photographers. The publication notes that Messi did not understand that this was not a trophy handed to him by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, since the craft was indistinguishable from the original in appearance and weight.

As a result, Messi was informed about the mistake by his teammate, midfielder Angel Di Maria. He was told about it by the security staff.

A photo of Messi with a fake cup typed on his Instagram (a social network banned in the Russian Federation; owned by the Meta corporation, which is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation and banned) almost 75 million likes. The image broke the record for the number of likes in the social network among athletes.

After the end of the final match of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, another scandal occurred with the trophy cup. Turkish meme chef Nusret Gökce came out to the players on the field, he touched the World Cup and several times tried to persuade the captain of the Argentina national team, Lionel Messi, to take a photo with him. According to the rules, only world champions and heads of state can hold the trophy.