Financial Tribune- Lionel Messi’s Iranian double, Reza Parastesh, travelled to Barcelona and was present at Nou Camp on Saturday for Barça’s La Liga game against Malaga with the objective of meeting his favorite player.
A fan of the Barcelona star, Parastesh, 25, had a huge banner on him with the following message: “Today there are two Messi’s in the stadium. Will we see each other? #makemydreamareality”.
According to Sport-english.com, the Messi lookalike was out and about in the Catalan city during Sunday, drawing lots of attention.
And it was the same story at Nou Camp, with many supporters wanting their photograph taken with him. Many people even thought he was actually Messi.
Parastesh has come into prominence in recent months, thanks to his uncanny resemblance to the five time Ballon d’Or winner.
Parastesh was pressured to don the number 10 Barcelona jersey after his dad thought he looked like the football superstar. He chucked on the jersey and sent a few pictures to a sports website and was shocked when they immediately replied asking him to come in for an interview.
That’s when everything changed for him. Afterwards he cut his hair like Messi and started studying his mannerisms to make him seem like the real deal.
Reza often wears the Barcelona or Argentina jersey when he goes out and constantly gets stopped for selfies.
He told The Daily Mail: “Now people really see me as the Iranian Messi and want me to mimic everything he does. I’m really happy that seeing me makes them happy and this happiness gives me a lot of energy.”