This Video Does Not Show a Mexican Boxer Invading the Pitch to Beat Lionel Messi
The Claim
A Mexican boxer invaded the Argentina-Netherlands match to beat Lionel Messi for disrespecting Mexico's flag.
News posted on
Emerging story
A video purportedly showing a Mexican boxer invading the pitch during Argentina's match against the Netherlands to beat Lionel Messi for disrespecting Mexico's flag has gone viral among social media users.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the circulating video and found the claim to be misleading.
The fan who invaded the Argentina-Netherlands match was Russian YouTuber Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, not a Mexican boxer.
Russian YouTuber Invaded Pitch
During the quarterfinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands, Vitaly Zdorovetskiy invaded the Lusail Stadium.
The match was held during the quarterfinals of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
This is not the first time Vitaly Zdorovetskiy has invaded a football stadium.
The 10-million-subscriber YouTuber did the same in the 2014 Brazil World Cup final between Germany and Argentina.
Vitaly Zdorovetskiy was born in 1992, and he is known on the Internet and YouTube as "VitalyzdTv."
A Mexican Boxer Threatened Lionel Messi
Following Argentina's 2-0 World Cup victory over Mexico, Argentine defender Nicolás Otamendi posted a video of the locker room celebrations.
Argentina's captain, Messi, can be seen taking off his boots and appearing to touch a Mexican jersey lying on the ground in front of him as the camera pans around.
Alvarez, a Mexican boxer, perceived this as disrespectful behavior, and he then expressed his outrage online.
Alvarez tweeted: "Did you see Messi cleaning the floor with our jersey and flag????
"He better pray to God that I don't find him!! Just like I respect Argentina, he has to respect Mexico!"
However, the boxer later apologized by saying, "These last few days I got carried away by the passion and love I feel for my country and made comments that were out of place, for which I want to apologize to Messi and the people of Argentina. Every day we learn something new, and this time it was my turn."
On his turn, Lionel Messi was quoted by TUDN saying, "It was a misunderstanding" following the boxer’s public threat.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup
For the first time in World Cup history, the tournament is being held in an Arab country.
The Netherlands lost their chance to advance to the World Cup semifinals in Qatar in favor of Argentina.
On December 18, Argentina and France will face off in the championship game at Lusail Stadium.
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