South American journalists have explained how Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona played a vital part in them evading trouble in Ukraine.
Russia launched a full military assault and invasion on Ukraine late last month and the conflict is ongoing.
The journalists travelled to Ukraine to cover the invasion and were stopped at a security checkpoint, according to Argentine TV channel Telefe. They were then taken for questioning.
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It was at that point Argentina football legends Messi and Maradona played a part in their release, in the most unexpected way.
Chilean journalist Daniel Matamala recounted the events on his Instagram story and explained: "Today, at one of the road checkpoints, the police seized our documents, cameras, telephones, and escorted us to the police station.
"The first interrogations were tense: it is a country at war and spies or saboteurs are suspected.
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"Until one of the policemen saw the passports of my Argentine colleagues and among a lot of words in Ukrainian, he said two that we understood 'Messi' and 'Maradona.'
"That's where everything changed. Our great cameraman Juan Zamudio showed that he has a tattoo of Diego Maradona in the calf."
Zamudio showed the tattoo and it managed to diffuse the situation.
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Maradona is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and is a household name.
Argentine journalist Guillermo Panizza then had his phone returned to him after authorities found a photo of him posing with a 20-year-old Messi back in 2007.
Panizza took a picture with Messi prior to Argentina's Copa America campaign, after initially looking for defender Roberto Ayala.
He thanked the Paris Saint-Germain star with a message of: "It's so big that he helped us get out of a police station in Ukraine.
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"Thank you for this photo and for being Argentine."
The deputy prime minister of Ukraine announced a ceasefire on humanitarian corridors between 9am and 9pm local time on Wednesday morning.
Vladimir Putin's troops have been warned against shooting in the designated areas.
Topics: Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Argentina, Ukraine
Daniel Marland