Tehran: Iranian student Reza Parastesh almost found himself in jail because of Lionel Messi. Seems strange doesn’t it? But it all makes sense if you see their pictures.
Parastesh looks so much like his sporting hero Messi that it almost landed him in jail for disrupting public order. So many people came out to take selfies with Parastesh in the western city of Hamedan over the weekend that police rushed him into a station and impounded his car to stop the chaos and clear traffic.
The resemblance is so uncanny that ‘Eurosport UK’ reportedly used his photo by accident on Twitter recently when talking about the real Messi! The furore began a few months ago when Parastesh’s football-mad father pressured the 25-year-old into posing in a number No 10 Barcelona jersey and sending the pictures to a sports website.
“I sent them one night and by morning they had called me and said I should come in quickly for an interview,” he told this agency Tuesday.
Despite his early reluctance, Parastesh soon grew into his new role. He cut his hair like Messi and grew a beard. He also often donned the Barca jersey when going out.
It has paid off – he is fully booked with media interviews and has even landed modelling contracts.
“Now people really see me as the Iranian Messi and want me to mimic everything he does. When I show up somewhere, people are really shocked,” Parastesh said.
Parastesh also remembers a funny tale regarding Messi. “Argentina beat Iran 1-0 in the 2014 World Cup, thereby robbing us a place in the last 16. My father was furious. After the game, he called me and said ‘don’t come back home tonight… why did you score a goal against Iran? I said: But that wasn’t me!” Parastesh said, laughing.
AFP
