Argentina intended to celebrate their greatest football icon with a monumental gesture of national pride. Instead, the unveiling of an 85-foot statue of Lionel Messi in the Patagonian town of Cutral Co has inadvertently become the internet's latest punchline.
The steel-and-iron monument, inaugurated on 16 June to coincide with the opening of Argentina's 2026 World Cup campaign, was commissioned as a tribute to the team's captain. Standing 26 metres tall, the sculpture depicts Messi kneeling in celebration, clutching the Argentina shirt with one hand and pointing skyward, a gesture he famously uses to honour his late grandmother.
