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| - Fact Check: Kerala has many Messi fans but this old video does not show celebration of Argentina's La Finalissima 2022 win
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that though the viral video was from the Indian state of Kerala, it was almost a year old and has no connection with Argentina's victory in La Finalissima 2022.
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India Today Fact Check
This video is from July 2021 when Messi fans in Kerala celebrated Argentina’s Copa America win.
Lionel Messi stole the show in front of a packed crowd at the Wembley Stadium as Argentina's national football team celebrated a 3-0 victory over Italy to claim La Finalissima 2022. Following this, a video went viral on social media claiming it showed the legendary Indian fans in Kerala celebrating Argentina's victory.
The video showed a bike rally with men carrying Argentina’s flag, hooting and cheering as they sped on a road. A Twitter user shared the video with the claim, “My town in India celebrating Argentina’s win today. We love Messi”.
The archived version of this post can be seen here.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that though the video was from the Indian state of Kerala, it was almost a year old. Obviously, it has no connection with Argentina’s victory in La Finalissima 2022.
AFWA Probe
The devil is in the detail
In the viral video, several people could be seen wearing masks, indicating that it was likely shot in 2020 or 2021 when Covid-19 masking rules were stricter. When we reverse-searched frames from the video, we found that many people had shared it in 2021.
The bikes could be seen crossing a bridge located near a beach. An abundance of palm trees also suggested that it was shot in a coastal area.
We were able to spot two bike number registration plates- ‘KL11B’ and ‘KL10P’. While the RTO code ‘KL11’ is registered under Kozhikode, Kerala. ‘KL10’ is registered under Kerala’s Malappuram.
Both districts are located in the Northern part of Kerala, indicating that this video could have been shot somewhere in that region.
What did a Keralite Messi fan say?
We found a video of a similar bike rally by Messi fans in India that was shared by ESPN Argentina’s Twitter account on July 11, 2021.
ESPN credited the video to someone called KM Sudhi from Kerala. Sudhi is a member of the Kerala Youth Congress. India Today reached out to Sudhi, who told us that the viral video in question was indeed from Kerala.
Sudhi confirmed to us that his friend had sent this video to him. “This video was shot in Kerala after Messi-led Argentina won the Copa America title in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on July 11, 2021,” Sudhi said, adding he too was a massive fan of Messi.
We also found multiple media reports stating how the soccer fans in Kerala celebrated Argentina’s Copa America victory in July 2021 with bike rallies.
Thus, we concluded that last year’s video of Lionel Messi fans in Kerala celebrating Argentina’s Copa America win was shared as fans’ reaction to the team’s La Finalissima 2022 victory.
(With inputs from Sanjana Saxena)
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