This student looks so much like Lionel Messi, he almost got given a jail sentence as police couldn’t tell them apart.
Now I know a lot of these ‘lookalikes’ which float around on Internet land are a load of shit, but this one is seriously good. I can honestly say this guy looks so much like the Argentine footballer, I can see why he nearly ended up in hot water…
Iranian student Reza Parastesh was taken in by police after they ‘panicked for his welfare’ and took him down to the station – almost arresting him for disrupting public order, the BBC reports.
Not only that, but they also impounded his car, so as not to cause extra chaos and to clear the roads from all the traffic clamouring to take selfies with the 25-year-old.
Apparently Reza first realised there was a freakily strong resemblance between the two, when his dad made him pose in a number 10 Barcelona shirt.
Presumably for a bit of a laugh, they sent the snaps to a football website and to their surprise, they wanted to see him for a chat.
Reza said:
I sent them one night and by the morning they had called me and said I should come in quickly for an interview.
Reza quickly started to embrace his lookalike skills and really took to the act, getting a haircut just like the original Messi and wearing his Barcelona shirt while out and about.
He explained:
Now people really see me as the Iranian Messi and want me to mimic everything he does. When I show up somewhere, people are really shocked.
Reza has been so successful in his impersonations of the Barcelona player, he’s even been offered modelling contracts and his diary is block-booked with interviews.
He went onto explain how Iranians love football and as he is constantly stopped and asked for a photo, he’s even working on his footie tricks to really win over his fans.
He said:
I’m really happy that seeing me makes them happy and this happiness gives me a lot of energy.
It seems his dad has embraced his son as the new ‘Messi’ so much, he even blamed him for scoring a goal against Iran in the last World Cup
He added:
After the game, my dad called me and said: “Don’t come back home tonight – why did you score a goal against Iran?” I said: “But that wasn’t me!”
Things seem to be really taking off for Reza, so much so he’s now hoping to help relieve Messi from some of his personal appearance duties.
He confessed:
Being the best player in footballing history, he definitely has more work than he can handle. I could be his representative when he is too busy.
It is pretty scary how alike the pair actually look, so much so he even managed to fool police… perhaps this is could be a very lucrative career path for the student.
