The 'Messimania', unleashed: an avatar in a video game, 'merchandising' and the official shirt of the 10 sold out

Messi's 'caganer' figure that has become a sales success in Spain. Caganer

The setting is festive and bleak on Francisco I. Madero street in Mexico City.

The popular and tourist street is crowded with people who do their shopping on the eve of Christmas Eve.

Amid the hubbub and Christmas lights, one of the Adidas store displays radiates blue and white through a screen.

It is the commercial of Messi's multiverse, in which the Argentine star plays a rondo with his versions from other World Cups.

The melody that accompanies the man from Rosario and his counterparts is the unmistakable

, that famous song that Maradona choreographed and with which he gave a show even before starting the game with his team, Napoli.

“

”.

That fragment of the famous chorus of the song by the Opus group merged with the crying of a child.

"I'm sorry, but it's out of stock," manages to say one of the vendors in the store.

The little boy's father asks, "but, will they get more?"

"There are still stocks through the app," the seller replies, with a face of not being able to do more.

The reality is that, days before the final against France, Lionel Messi's World Cup shirt, number 10 for the Argentine team, was sold out worldwide, the German company announced in a statement.

Everything that has to do with the star from Rosario is sold like hot cakes.

The reality is that the Argentine team shirt, at least in the Adidas store on Madero street in Mexico City —the largest in Latin America—, had been sold out since the start of the World Cup, according to a vendor.

He says that during the soccer tournament, stocks were arriving by drops, but of the 20 that were put up for sale daily, all of them ended up running out.

“At this moment we do not have physical

of the men's and children's jersey in any store,” he adds.

"We are working to meet the extraordinary demand for jerseys and more stock will be available soon," Adidas told

in a statement a day after the final.

However, the white and blue jacket on the website of the German sports brand in the United States remains with a notice that says "unfortunately this item is out of stock."

On the pages of Argentina and Mexico, the shirt was once again available, although for the moment limited to a few sizes and running out of stock little by little.

This one, without the serigraphy on the shirt, has a value that oscillates between 90 and 97 dollars, depending on the exchange rate.

The stamp of 10 and the bearer's surname cost 13 and 22 dollars, in Mexico and Argentina, respectively.

A shirt with the image of Messi with the phrase "What are you looking at, silly" that he made famous during the World Cup in Qatar. LUIS ROBAYO (AFP)

Adidas has already announced that the new shirt with the three stars, each for the championships obtained —1978, 1986 and 2022—, will be launched on December 28 of this year, according to an announcement through its UK portal.

However, the saying "a troubled river, fishermen's profit" could not be the best example of what some people, on resale sites like Ebay or StockX, are trying to earn, marketing the shirt from 240 to more than 2,000 Dollars.

But the fanaticism that pursues the Argentine captain does not only revolve around the ball.

Messi has also been made into an

, a photorealistic representation of himself in the virtual world, for the war game

and

.

Three days after the hangover from the festivities after lifting the World Cup, on December 21, the Argentine star resumed the publications on his Instagram account to make it known that the shots will no longer only be given on the soccer field , but also online in the first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward.

The

allows the user, through in-game purchases and upgrades, to put himself in the shoes of the Argentine 10 for virtual warfare, along with his exclusive light blue and gold weapons with the player's logo.

The reactions to his publication did not wait and the first teammate from the Argentine team to respond was Emiliano Martínez, goalkeeper and one of the figures in the final, telling him "I had to buy you", accompanied by an emoji with hearts in his eyes. .

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A publication shared by Leo Messi (@leomessi)

But not only the image of the Argentine figure from Paris Saint-Germain has been the reason for product sales, but also the mettle that he showed during the tournament off the field, a quality that his detractors demanded for many years.

The "what are you looking at, fool" of the 10 to the Dutch player Wout Weghorst, in an interview after finishing the quarterfinals that faced Argentina against the Netherlands, has become a stuffed animal with the recording of the phrase, shirts, cups and other products that can be found in formal and informal shops throughout Latin America.

In Spain, the

de Messi, a traditional figure depicted in the act of defecating that appears in nativity scenes in regions such as Catalonia, the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands, has become the best seller during the Christmas season.

The Caganer company, who manufacture this figure by hand, have also paid tribute to the Argentine after becoming world champion, adding him to other famous figures such as Volodimir Zelenski, president of Ukraine, or the singer Shakira, to name a few.

An Argentine fan tries on a replica of the tunic that Messi received from the emir Qatar before lifting the World Cup.DPA via Europa Press (DPA via Europa Press)

Meanwhile, in Doha, Qatar, 5,000 kilometers away from Catalonia, in the Al Salim store, the

, the cloak that the emir of that country put on Messi minutes before lifting the World Cup, has become a listed garment.

From selling eight to 10 of those pieces a day, the sale rose to around 150, including replicas of the tunic worn by

.

Everything seemed to indicate that the Rosario's career was beginning to enter its decline, but with the rise of the Argentine captain to the category of the greatest football legends and with a possible renewal for another year at Paris Saint Germain on the horizon, everything seems to indicate that there is

for a while and it is unleashed.

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