A statue of Argentine football star Lionel Messi has been vandalized in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The bronze statue, unveiled last June, in a public attempt to convince Messi to reconsider his retirement and make a comeback was broken in half and the torso, arms, and head were removed. The footballer announced international retirement after losing in a penalty shootout to Chile in the Copa America final.

There has been no claims made to the act by any organization or group yet. The motive behind this heinous act was not clear but some reports suggest that it is connected to the FIFA ceremony in Zurich. Apparently, the glittering ceremony witnessed Cristiano Ronaldo beat Messi to the Best FIFA Player of the Year award. Messi had skipped the ceremony along with his Barcelona teammates, including Neymar, who could be named in a World XI voted for by players. Barcelona later explained the decision, saying that they wanted to give priority to preparations for Wednesday's Copa del Rey match against Athletic Bilbao reports, BBC.

The vandalized statue is located in Paseo de la Gloria (Glory Street), which also displays casts of other famous Argentine sports stars such as tennis player Gabriela Sabatini, basketball player Manuel Ginobili, Guillermo Vilas, the Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio, and the hockey player Luciana Aymar. Such incident of vandalism on statues has been rampant in this part of the area of late reports, The Guardian.

Meanwhile, everyone in the football world is talking about Lionel Messi's amazing dribble against Espanyol. The international star player is 12 years into his extraordinary sporting life and he still has the power to amaze fans with his gift. Every player gets their share of love and hate and this incident is just another part of it and the player knows it.

The city government has already started working on the statue and has refrained from making any further comments on the act.

Related