"Fly screens", "highest deference": Messi and his Qatari robe cause worldwide discussions

Created: 12/18/2022 10:23 p.m

By: Stefan Schmid

Before Lionel Messi can lift the World Cup trophy, the Emir puts an extra robe on him.

This caused outrage among viewers.

Lusail - Argentina captain Lionel Messi was the last in line to claim the 2022 World Cup winners' medal from Gianni Infantino and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

But before Messi can make his way to his team to lift the World Cup trophy, a bisht, an Arabic robe, is donned by the Emir himself.

In a few minutes, the social media channels are full of discussions about the strange scene and TV expert Bastian Schweinsteiger is not very happy about the campaign.

But opinions differ here too.

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The Argentina team was already waiting for their captain Messi, who also pulled all the strings in the final they won against France.

But he had to stop again briefly after the gold medal had been reassigned.

FIFA President Infantino and Qatar's Emir took him between them and dressed the puzzled Argentine in a folk costume.

Messi endured the procedure before accepting the World Cup trophy and finally joining the rest of the squad.

Messi is dressed in the bisht by the Qatari Emir.

© Screenshot: ARD sports show

But not only Messi himself was somewhat surprised by the apparently uncoordinated process, because TV expert Bastian Schweinsteiger and presenter Esther Sedlaczek were not exactly happy about the situation either.

“You take away a big moment from the player.

I didn't like it either, I think you can do that in the dressing room or later," said Schweinsteiger after the award ceremony.

Political statement at the "apolitical" FIFA?

Of course, it didn't take long before the process was picked up on social media.

Accusations of the political appropriation of the file by the Qatari Emir quickly became loud.

Journalist Marius Mestermann tweeted a picture of the situation with the ironic reference "the most apolitical World Cup ever."

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The accusation of political appropriation, if it is correct, certainly contains a lot of material for discussion.

FIFA President Infantino was also part of the spectacle, although he repeatedly referred to the allegedly non-political sport before and during the World Cup.

And so any criticism of the award to Qatar was dismissed.

Incomprehension from fans despite great honor for Messi

In many respects, one can with good reason assume that Qatar, also in connection with FIFA, is politically calculated at this World Cup.

In this case it is probably different.

The gesture of putting the Bisht robe on a stranger is considered a great honor in the Arab world and can probably be understood as an additional distinction of Messi.

Nevertheless, the process does not meet with understanding everywhere and leads to sometimes rude posts on Twitter, in which the robe is referred to as a “fly screen” or “bathrobe”.

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Other Twitter users, on the other hand, see things differently and point to the more likely background.

To have the robe put on personally by the head of state "is considered a sign of the highest deference in the Arab world," says one user.

By the way, the comparison of the bisht with a bathrobe is not new.

Sandro Wagner also got into trouble with this dubious comparison during the World Cup.