Watch: Lionel Messi Details “Difficult, Complicated Days” Ahead of World Cup 2026
The latest tribute to Lionel Messi missed the mark.
After an 85-foot statue was put up in Patagonia, Argentina in honor of the famed soccer player during the FIFA World Cup, fans took note of an awkward, NSFW mistake.
Messi’s statue sees the player donning an Argentina jersey and kneeling over a World Cup trophy, which is placed directly between his legs.
While artist Aldo Berosia told the New York Times that his statue of Messi was envisioned with the Argentina native—who helped lead his country to a win in 2022—holding the World Cup trophy in his hand, he had it moved to between his legs citing safety concerns.
However, fans took note that the trophy’s new placement between the Messi statue’s kneeling legs was not ideal.
As one fan wrote in a comment about the statue on Instagram, “Looks like reverse cowgirl.”
Another added, “Oh my…. This is Messy.”
And since the statue had no shorts to match its Argentina jersey, one fan posited, “Why does he not have pants on.”
Other fans were getting into the spirit of competition that the World Cup inspires, with one joking, “Whoever approved this is a secret Ronaldo fan,” referring to Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
But Berosia didn’t anticipate the backlash on the positioning of the trophy. Instead, the local Argentinian artist was more concerned about getting Messi’s facial features just right.
“All the public opinion’s eyes are going to be on the face,” Berosia told the New York Times. “If I don’t get the face right, everything I built falls apart.”
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Indeed, since Berosia typically sculpts dinosaur or Jesus Christ statues, he was determined to get every detail of Messi’s facial features correct. At one point, he even broke the statue’s eyes and started from scratch because his wife felt there was something wrong with them.
Nevertheless, Berosia was well aware that the public would have thoughts on his design—no matter how it turned out.
“You can manage to convey what Christ looked like, or in the Last Supper—what the apostles looked like is open to interpretation,” he added. “But with this one, you can’t make a mistake. Messi is Messi.”
Messi isn’t the only international player with dedicated fans. Keep reading for every star athlete to watch…
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