Lionel Messi was forced to cover his Argentina shirt with a black and gold robe as he lifted the World Cup trophy in Qatar.
Messi was the hero as he scored twice and converted his penalty in a dramatic shoot-out win over France after a 3-3 draw at the Lusail Stadium. It marked a dream end to his World Cup career as he added the only major honour missing from his CV in historic scenes in Qatar.
But, as Messi finally made his way up to the stage to collect the trophy, he was given a black robe by the Emir of Qatar. He put on the item of clothing as BBC commentator Guy Mowbray declared it “the night the true king of football is coronated”.
Messi was then handed the trophy and slowly walked over to his teammates as they celebrated one of the most iconic moments in football history. But the robe meant Messi’s blue and white Argentina shirt was not on full display.
Lionel Messi was given a black robe to wear as he lifted the World Cup trophy
Lionel Messi was given a black robe to wear as he lifted the World Cup trophy.
And Gary Lineker was unhappy that he was given the item of clothing during the presentation. He said: “Amazing scenes, great pictures from above and great pictures from inside the ground as Argentina win the World Cup for the third time.
“It seems a shame, in a way, that they’ve covered up Messi in his Argentina shirt,” he added.
Ex-Argentina defender Pablo Zabaleta replied: “Just, why? Why? No reason to do that.” Alan Shearer joked: “I didn’t think Infantino was going to let him go either,” as Lineker added: “Nobody marked him that tightly during the game!”
However, Messi did soon ditch the robe before someone added a third star to his Argentina shirt to mark their third World Cup triumph.
“Three stars on Messi’s shirt, I think, I spot,” Lineker said. “And he’s taken the little robe off.”
