Lionel Messi just got a new 85-foot statue. While it is not the only structure built in honor of the Argentine soccer legend, it is for sure the most talked-about.
Unveiled in the small town of Cutral Có, Argentina, in the Patagonia region, the player’s latest statue arrives at the same time as Messi returns to the international stage for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as well as his 39th birthday.
Despite being among the largest sculptures in his honor, weighing around 60 tons and taking 18 months to craft, it’s not the size that’s making headlines, but rather the statue’s position.
Constructed to mirror Messi’s iconic pose during his 2022 World Cup victory over France, the structure shows Messi kneeling while holding one hand to his chest and holding his jersey, with the other held up in the air triumphantly.
While the pose might have made sense in theory—immortalizing the moment of a historic win—the execution has led the larger-than-life sculpture to appear to be not safe for work.
Blue paint was used to depict Argentina’s jersey; the rest of the sculpture was left white, creating the illusion that the player is in fact wide-legged pantless.
To add insult to injury, the sculpture also includes a copy of the World Cup trophy, placed directly in between the soccer star’s legs, leaving little to the imagination.
As soon as images of the sculpture hit the internet, social media users where quick to call out the suggestive appearance.
“We need to talk about the position of that trophy…” a user said on X.
Another added, “he looks he isn’t wearing any pants at all.”
Others resorted to questioning the intentions of the statue. “I’m guessing they knew what they were doing with the placement of that ‘throphy’” on person added.
According to the Associated Press, the designer of the sculpture is Aldo Beroisa. In an Instagram post by an account that appears to be from Beroisa, an edited caption explained that the statue is unfinished.
“Due to the limited time with which the work was requested we worked tirelessly day and night to present the statue on the scheduled date. However, its completion with all the details was not possible within the time frame,” read the caption.
A history of Messi mishaps
The viral statue is just the latest in a series of unfortunate statues mishaps for the player.
In 2017, a Messi statue in Buenos Aires was vandalized, with the statue decapitated and left behind without limbs. Recently, a 70-foot statue of the Argentinian player in Kolkata, India, was taken down from its site due to safety concerns related to wind.
But Messi is not the only victim of bad statues. Notably, a 2017 statue of Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo went viral and was widely panned after being inaugurated at an airport named after him in Madeira, Portugal.
Still, some commenters think Messi might take home the trophy for worst statue.
As one X user put it, “Finally, Messi has his counterpart to Ronaldo’s statue.”