Lionel Messi has had a new sculpture created to mark Argentina's historic World Cup win.
Messi finally got his hands on the precious prize in December after captaining La Albiceleste to a first triumph since 1986 - with Argentina prevailing on penalties after a pulsating 3-3 draw with France at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar.
The 36-year-old won the Golden Ball after scoring seven times, including twice in the final. And his incredible achievement has been commemorated with a life-size statue.
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Messi has had plenty of statues erected before - some better than others - but this one is complete with him in his Argentina kit and holding the World Cup trophy which he lifted again in front of the fans in Buenos Aires on Thursday.
And unlike many other busts, Messi's actually bares a striking resemblance to the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner. Messi was all smiles as he saw the sculpture for the first time and posed next to it.
It will be based at the South American Football Federation (CONMEBOL) headquarters in Peru alongside statues of late greats Diego Maradona and Pele.
Messi was overjoyed at being honoured with the statue and thanked the federation and God for delivering another blessing.
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"I'm fulfilled with this; it was what I was missing," he said at the ceremony.
"Thank God I got everything in football. I keep these cups in the museum at home. Thanks to CONMEBOL for this tribute to us and to Sole for the song, we listen to it a lot and it reminds me of when she sang it to Diego. We are living very beautiful moments, we were lucky to return to Argentina after the World Cup and we received many expressions of affection. It was different, that's how the people of Argentina show it."
The reaction to the statue has been extremely positive, which wasn't the case six years ago when Cristiano Ronaldo had a disastrous figurine at the Madeira Airport.
It led to plenty of trolling, with Emanuel Santos, the man who made it, being widely ridiculed across the board.
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Reacting to the two sculptures, one fan wrote: "Messi’s statue has touched more World Cups than human Ronaldo."
Another said: “Whoever designed the Ronaldo statue was definitely a Messi fan.”
A third user chimed in: "Only Ronaldo had a World Cup they would have paid more attention to sculpting his statue.”
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Lionel Messi, Argentina, Football World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo
