Soccer and friendship are two pillars of Argentine identity.
From the combination of both during the intense weeks of the World Cup in Qatar —among goal cries, minutes of suffering and chants of “boys, now we are excited again”— thousands of promises were born if the team were to win.
When Messi kissed the long-awaited World Cup, the tattoo artists' phones began to ring.
They haven't stopped since.
Many have sold out shifts for the next few weeks.
In some cases, the waiting list is up to a year.
The cup, three stars —one for each World Cup in Argentina— and the portraits of the Albiceleste captain are among the most demanded tattoos.
"For Messi whatever," says Alexis Laube, 18, before lying on the stretcher in Emily Lago's Coven studio.
It's her first tattoo.
He is nervous, but determined.
He has to keep the promise he made with a friend after Argentina's first game, when he lost to Arabia in surprise.
“It was more of a shock than a sadness because who would have imagined a defeat,” he says.
That day, with their spirits on the ground, Laube and a friend promised to tattoo themselves if Argentina won the World Cup.
Emily Lago shows one of Coven Studio's clients a World Cup design.Valentina Fusco
The World Cup that Lago records above his ankle will be the permanent memory of the first World Cup title celebrated by the Argentine
centennials
, who supported Messi since they were children despite the permanent shadow that Diego Armando Maradona cast over him.
"The goal I screamed the most was Messi's third in the final," he says at the door of the venue, recalling that throughout the World Cup he suffered a lot and there were even moments when he fainted and others when he began to cry and couldn't breathe.
After the victory against France, he rushed to find where he could fulfill the promise.
Diversity of public
“On Sunday the 18th, when we won, I received many messages.
And I was surprised, because I have a mostly female audience and I didn't expect this madness.
This week I tattooed men, women and even families, parents with children who came to keep promises”, says Lago.
This tattoo artist with eight years of experience assures that the World Cup frenzy is something unprecedented: "Sometimes I receive several requests for the same theme, for example when a band comes to Buenos Aires, like Coldplay or Harry Styles, but I've never experienced such madness ”.
A similar scenario describes the tattoo artist Jimena Castillo Beltrán.
“On Sunday and Monday everyone called and wanted it for now, now, now.
People who are not even soccer fans, but who had made a promise or who wanted to get a tattoo to remember it, ”she explains.
Castillo Beltrán is specialized in botany, but now she has sold out her shifts until February due to World Cup orders.
“In my case, what I am tattooing the most are May suns, for our flag, and the date, 12-18-22″.
A tattoo artist from the Coven Tattoo Studio paints the design that will be tattooed on the leg of Alexis Laube.Valentina Fusco
The tattoo artist Gian Scianca believes that what is happening “has to do with football, but it transcends it”, because it is also linked to the recovery of a certain Argentine idiosyncrasy and pride after years of much pessimism.
Among those who come to his studio these days are men over 40 who, when Argentina won the previous World Cups, in 1978 and 1986, did not think of getting a tattoo and now they are contemplating the possibility of engraving a small memory on their skin.
The World Cup fever in Argentina does not understand age or gender.
Musician Malena Pizarro and her partner, Martina Feldkamp, are soccer fans and spent part of their honeymoon in Qatar to support the team in the first two games, against Saudi Arabia and against Mexico.
They traveled there despite their fear of local laws, which prohibit homosexuality.
Pizarro, a member of an 8-a-side soccer team, got the number 10 tattooed when Argentina won the Copa América and in November all the players promised they would get a new tattoo if the Albiceleste won the World Cup.
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A post shared by Male Pizarro (@malepizarro)
"Since I'm very bostera [Boca Juniors fan] when I saw Messi make the gesture of Riquelme, the one with Topo Gigio, I thought 'that's it', I do that, but then it seemed to me that the most symbolic image was that of Messi kissing the cup.
And I tattooed it on my left leg, which is his leg, as a tribute, even though I'm right-handed, ”says Pizarro, who plays as a striker.
hyperrealistic portraits
Messi is the undisputed protagonist of the tattoo boom.
In the case of studios specialized in hyperrealistic portraits, his schedules are collapsed.
César Molina, better known as
Yeyo
, has been on the waiting list for a year.
With more than half a million followers on Instagram, this 35-year-old tattoo artist has become well known for his detailed portraits of Messi and Maradona, the two idols of Argentine soccer.
Completing a job takes him a whole day, in some cases two, and since he published the image of a leg decorated with the Flea kissing the cup, he has not stopped receiving commissions to repeat it.
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A post shared by Yeyo Tattoos (@yeyo_tattoos)
The rage is so great that tattoo artists these days work anywhere from homes to bars.
"A tattoo is for life and I know that I will not regret this," says Federico Gómez at the Otra Historia club, where on Tuesday a line of young people, beer in hand, lined up in front of a tattoo artist's stretcher .
"I'm doing the Cup to remember every day the joy I felt when we came out champions."
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