Argentina captain Lionel Messi wore a “fake” World Cup during the photo he posted on his Instagram account after winning the tournament at the expense of France in a penalty shootout at the “Lusail” stadium in the Qatari capital, Doha .
And it became the most-liked photo in Instagram history, surpassing the famous “egg” photo, and as of this writing has 74 million likes.
Two Argentine fans explained to the Clarin newspaper that the trophy Messi was carrying on the pitch was, in fact, a fake.
In accordance with FIFA protocol, the original trophy was recovered again moments after president Gianni Infantino handed it to the winner for a photo on the podium.
Paula Zuzulich, an Argentina fan who was in Qatar, told Clarin: ‘Before the World Cup, we contacted someone who could imitate the World Cup, it took six months to make it happen. The idea was to get players to sign him, but in the end the trophy went on the field several times.
And he continued: First a member of the Paredes family took it to sign it. The second time it was passed between one player and another to take pictures of us, and finally FIFA security came and asked us to verify that it was not the original.
And he concluded: There are some details, marks and engravings that are not similar to the original cup, but the difference is small.
And the paparazzi immortalized the moment in which Di Maria pointed at the replica of the trophy, laughing with Messi at the misunderstanding.
