Lionel Messi: Why was he wearing a cloak when lifting World Cup trophy? – GIVEMESPORT

Lionel Messi has finally got his hands on the World Cup trophy.
The Argentine superstar scored twice during a 3-3 thriller against France before calmly rolling his penalty home in the penalty shootout.
He may not have won the Golden Boot thanks to Kylian Mbappe’s hat-trick but Messi won’t care about that too much.
Check out our 2022 World Cup hub page
He will be going to bed tonight with the World Cup trophy, the Golden Ball and his GOAT status well and truly cemented.
Footage emerged of the moment Messi realised he was a world champion and, after a little while, finally lofted the biggest prize of football aloft at the Lusail Stadium.
However, he didn’t do so in the colours of Argentina and that iconic No.10 jersey wasn’t on display.
While he still had the famous blue and white striped shirt on, he was given a bizarre cloak to wear over the shirt.
What was it? And why was Messi wearing it?
The cloak is called a ‘bisht’ – and, according to Miguel Delaney, is ‘something that dignitaries wear over a thawb on very formal occasions.’
Delaney goes on to comment that: “Might fit the hosts, but unusual for a World Cup final, and can fairly be described as one last piece of sportswashing.”
Meanwhile, The Athletic’s Laurie Whitwell tweeted: “Qatar obviously wanted to be present in the World Cup trophy pictures, hence putting that black bisht on Messi. But just made for a weird, unnecessary look amid a sea of blue + white sporting shirts. It should be a moment for the players, not the host. Grossly indulgent.”
Many football fans were disappointed that Messi wasn’t seen in his Argentina shirt lifting the trophy and, instead, will be seen in a black cloak.
WORLD CHAMPS 🏆#BBCFootball #BBCWorldCup pic.twitter.com/0n2JyGGgWc
Check out the reaction:
Dr Mustafa Baig, a lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, explained how Messi wearing the bisht was a sign of respect.
“So only a select few people would actually wear the bisht,” he said.
“It’s like a mark of honour, and just kind of a cultural welcoming and a cultural acceptance.
And this is a top occasion. I mean, there’s probably no bigger occasion, so they put it on him as a mark of honour. They basically honoured him by putting that on, just to recognise him as kind of one of their own for that little moment.”
Messi will probably be disappointed that he’s not in Argentina colours in all the photos of him lifting the World Cup for the very first time. Whether or not Messi agreed to the request from the Qatari organisers remains to be seen.
Was there anything wrong with it? No. But it would surely have been more iconic seeing Messi lift the World Cup with that No.10 Argentine shirt clearly on show.
However, there will be plenty of photo opportunities throughout the night as Messi – and the rest of his Argentine teammates – celebrate long into the night. We might be seeing some pretty iconic images in the coming days.
After the match, Messi admitted that he couldn’t wait to see the celebrations in his home country and that his dream has now come true.
“We can’t wait to be in Argentina to see how crazy the celebrations are going to be,” Messi said.
“Look at this cup, it’s beautiful. We suffered a lot but we made it. I knew that God was going to give it to me, I had a feeling that this was mine. This was the trophy I wanted all my life. This was my dream from childhood.”
You can find all of the latest football news and rumours right here.
To keep up to date with all our sports news, sign up to our weekly newsletter.
Totally unbiased Liverpool fan with a deep hatred of VAR. “Had trials at Southampton as a youngster and would’ve made it if it wasn’t for a knee injury.”
© 2022 Sports New Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.

source