A monumental mess? Argentina’s 85-foot statue of Lionel Messi is dividing fans

As Lionel Messi continues to ignite the FIFA World Cup in the United States, back home in Argentina, a thrilling new tribute to the maestro is causing a very different kind of firestorm on social media.

A colossal 85-foot figure of the Argentine captain now towers over the outskirts of Cutral Co, a remote oil-producing town on Patagonia’s windy southern plains. Sculpted from 70 tons of steel and iron, the monument depicts the legendary striker on his knees, saluting long-haul trucks and motorists traveling on Route 22, a lonely, desolate highway that feels like a desolate stretch of national highways through the Rajasthan desert.

The timing of his inauguration on 16 June was poetic, coinciding with Argentina’s current World Cup campaign where 39-year-old Messi recently rolled back the years with a dazzling hat-trick against Algeria, followed by a match against Austria to become the tournament’s top scorer with 18 goals.

Nevertheless, local authorities boast that they will comfortably overshadow the now-dismantled 70-foot statue Unveiled during Messi’s iconic ‘GOAT tour’ in Kolkata, football purists at X were unimpressed by the sheer size and anatomy of the Patagonian colossus.

As tourists reportedly flock to the remote town to take a look, digital commentators have spent the week dissecting the statue’s distinct lack of aesthetic finesse. Chief among the complaints is the bizarrely smooth lower half, which critics say completely lacks the anatomical detail found in the upper torso and face.

“MAKE THAT STATUE TO HIM?”

However, the real storm revolves around the location of the World Cup gold trophy. The sculptor chose to place the iconic silver directly between Messi’s thighs as he kneels on the metal grass.

The resulting images sparked a flurry of hilarious reactions online, with fans pointing out that the placement looked less like a historic sporting triumph and more like an awkward comedy of errors.

“Are they really trying to mock him by making this statue or what? Especially from this angle?” one viral post on X, while others suggested that the bottom half of the statue looked more like a giant abstract monolith than the world’s greatest footballer. Screengrab from X Screengrab from X

Despite the digital ridicule, the local community remains immensely proud. For Cutral Co – a town previously known only for giant dinosaur replicas and independence monuments – the statue has finally put them on the tourist map.

“He’s a natural ambassador for Argentina. It was very important to me, not only as an artist, but as an Argentine,” Beroisa, a 61-year-old sculptor, told The Associated Press, undeterred by Internet anatomical criticism.

While fans debate his metallic form in Patagonia, the real Messi is putting on a masterclass on the pitches of North America, ensuring his final global tournament will be a record-breaking spectacle. The 38-year-old maestro is in red-hot form and led Argentina’s smooth progress to the knockout stages with a tournament-leading five goals in just two group games.

After starting his campaign with a dazzling hat-trick against AlgeriaMessi made soccer history in Dallas against Austria. Despite missing an early penalty, he bounced back with superb pace to seal a 2-0 victory and overtake Germany’s Miroslav Klose to become the top scorer in men’s World Cup history with 18 goals.

He scored in his sixth consecutive World Cup match The Argentinian captain plays with the urgency of a man unfazed by agehe left international defenses in shambles and proved that no statue – no matter how gigantic or anatomically awkward – could fully capture his genius on the pitch.

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Issued by:

Akshay Ramesh

Published on:

June 25, 2026 15:53 ​​IST