A story as we like them, ones that always come out more or less long after a big event.
This features Lionel Messi and the famous photo of him lifting the World Cup in the Lusail stadium, which has become the most liked in Instagram history with its more than 74 million clicks.
It turns out that the Argentine captain was actually wearing a fake trophy in this photo, and he was unaware of it.
He had unknowingly recovered a larger than life replica made by a couple of supporters from Buenos Aires.
The story, spotted by RMC Sport, is told in the Argentinian newspaper
Clarin
.
One of his special correspondent photographers in Qatar, Fernando de la Orden, had captured the evening of the final an image of Angel Di Maria showing the underside of the trophy to Lionel Messi, laughing.
And he wondered why.
He then launched a call for contributions, and the couple responded.
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Manuel and Paula explained that Di Maria was proving to his partner that the trophy in his hand was a copy.
They were in a good position to know, since they were the ones who brought it to the stadium and then passed it on to the players during the celebrations.
Fifa's doubt
Clarin then went to meet the owners when they returned home.
In a video, they tell how their trophy, which has "the weight of the original" and made "of resin and quartz inside, covered with gold paint", ended up in the hands of the players .
They originally wanted to have it autographed, but it ended up on the lawn for an hour, going from hand to hand.
Until those of Messi, therefore, when he was carried in triumph by his partners.
The replica therefore did not go unnoticed, so much so that “FIFA staff came to the scene and asked us to confirm that it was not the original”, specifies the couple.
With a bit of luck, it's also the one that Salt Bae allowed himself to touch.
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World Cup 2022
Lionel Messi
Soccer
Sport