A giant cutout of Argentina star Lionel Messi erected under the ocean by his fans at Kavaratti on Lakshadweep.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
How far football fans will go to eulogize their idol?
Argentina fans from the Kavaratti island in Lakshadweep claim to have dived nearly 100 ft into the ocean to erect a three-ft-high cutout of their idol Lionel Messi, putting up a new marker for fandom.
It started after Mohammed Swadikh, a blogger from Kavaratti and an Argentina fan, in a Facebook post announced of such an act if Argentina reaches the final. “Everyone was talking about the football fever in Malabar while our love for the game went unnoticed. We wanted to do something unique to draw attention. We have erected the cutout in an area in the ocean known in our part as wall of wonder since we wanted to put another wonder Leo alongside,” he says about coming up with the idea.
Also read: FIFA World Cup 2022 Final | Messi carries the weight of Argentina against France
Before the World Cup kicked off, FIFA, governing body of football, had tweeted the image of the giant cutouts of Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar in the middle of a river at Pullavoor in Kerala to show how the State was in the grip of World Cup fever.
Swadikh, along with fellow Argentina fans Razzaque and Shefeek, carried the cutout deep into the ocean with the support of the Ammathi Scuba and Lakshadweep Adventures. It took them about an hour to complete the ‘mission’.
“Though we had put up another giant cutout of Messi on the island, we designed this one using water resistant material to specifically mark Argentina’s entry into the final,” says Swadikh.
A video of the cutout being taken under water and being amidst coral reefs and fishes has since gone viral. Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal was among those to tweet it.
However, the fans have no plans to leave the cutout under water forever and will remove it once the World Cup final is over.