Lionel Messi wore a Bisht (black cloak) as he lifted the World Cup to celebrate Argentina’s incredible victory over France in the final.
The final match of Qatar 2022 was a classic, with Argentina winning on penalties and the game ending 3-3 after 120 minutes of thrilling action.
A penalty from Messi and Angel Di Maria’s strike put the Alibceleste in charge of the final as they went 2-0 up at half time.
They appeared to be on their way to a convincing victory until Kylian Mbappe scored twice in 97 seconds for France, the first a penalty and the second a brilliantly taken volley.
Messi then struck early in the second half of extra-time but he and Argentina were pegged back once again with another Mbappe penalty.
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Argentina came out on top in the dreaded shootout, as Emiliano Martinez saved Kingsley Coman’s penalty and Aurelien Tchouameni fired wide. Argentina converted all four of their penalty kicks.
Messi was named Player of the Tournament before finally receiving the trophy that had eluded him throughout his career.
Before the iconic moment, he exchanged greetings with FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who dressed him in a robe just before the trophy lift.
The cloak Messi was wearing is a Bisht, which is a traditional men’s cloak that’s popular in the Arab world and is understood to date back thousands of years.
A Bisht is worn on special occasions such as weddings or festivals such as Eid, the religious holiday celebrated by Muslims that marks the end of Ramadan’s month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting.
It may have been a bizarre sight to those not familiar with the custom, but it was not as strange as Infantino’s white trainers.
While there’s nothing unusual about the shoes, the fact that he had them customized with ‘FIFA’ printed on the side is.
SOURCE: 3news.com
