Does he look like Ronaldo?.. Division in Argentina over the giant statue of Messi | sports

An Argentine city unveiled a statue depicting the star Lionel Messi, who is currently competing in the World Cup for the sixth time in his career.

The statue, which was unveiled in the province of Neuquén, located in the city of Patagonia, depicted Messi wearing an Argentina shirt, placing his left hand on his heart and pointing with his right hand towards the sky, and appeared kneeling on his knee with the World Cup between his legs.

Messi’s statue raises controversy

The statue, designed by Argentine artist Aldo Peruissa, weighs 70 tons and is 26 meters long, making it the tallest Messi in the world, according to what the French network “rmcsport” reported.

She pointed out that the new statue is taller than the one depicting Messi in Calcutta, India, as the latter is 21 meters tall.

Berwisa, who specializes in making giant statues, said: “The municipality asked me to make a life-sized statue of Messi, but it seemed to me too small for someone of his size and value. Because of his career, Messi is a role model that we can follow.”

According to the same network, the statue – despite its huge size – did not receive unanimous support from followers on social networking sites, as the bright white color and the player’s position sparked a lot of ridicule.

Among the most prominent sarcastic comments: “He is very ugly,” while others saw that there was a similarity between the face of the statue and his eternal rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, as she put it.

Despite these criticisms, the statue is viewed with pride by the 40,000 residents of Neuquén, as a symbol that will contribute to enhancing tourism there by attracting the interest of Messi fans to visit it.

Argentina and Austria match

Away from the statue, Messi and his teammates are preparing to play their second match in the World Cup this evening, against Austria for the tenth group.

The defending champion, Argentina, will face its Austrian counterpart at Dallas Stadium in a match that will start at 20:00 Mecca and Doha time.

Messi (38 years old) will be set to break a new record in his career, as he only needs to score one goal, to become the top scorer in World Cup history, and he will break up the partnership with German Miroslav Klose, each of whom now has 16 goals.

Messi launched his appearance in the current edition of the World Cup in the best possible way, after scoring 3 goals (hat-tricks) for Argentina against the Algerian national team.