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| - Recently, a claim has spread online that Lionel Messi unfollowed Alejandro Garnacho, an Argentine under-17 footballer, on Instagram. This rumor emerged after Garnacho celebrated a goal against Everton on November 26, mimicking Cristiano Ronaldo’s style.
Some claims that was circulated in the media: One Football (archive) and Goal (archive).
Some Facebook posts with this claim can be found here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), here (archive) and here (archive).
Some related posts on social media platform X can be seen here (archive) and here (archive).
Fact Check
According to an investigation by the Rumor Scanner team, the claim that Lionel Messi unfollowed Argentina under-17 footballer Alejandro Garnacho on Instagram after he celebrated a goal against Everton in the style of Cristiano Ronaldo on November 26 is false. In fact, Lionel Messi never followed Garnacho on Instagram in the first place.
The investigation found that former Manchester United and England national football team player Rio Ferdinand published a talk show on his YouTube channel on November 27, 2023, titled “Garnacho Goal Better Than Rooney?। Rio Comes To The Defence Of Gary Neville Career”.
The 49-minute and 15-second talk show was observed by Rumor Scanner, and it was found that in the 17th minute of the video, Rio Ferdinand said, “My lad said to me Messi is unfollowed him (Garnacho)”
After Rio Ferdinand’s comment, the matter spread to the media outlets and social media.
Later, Alejandro Garnacho’s brother Roberto Garnacho posted about this on his X (former Twitter) account.
In the post, he said, “False, Messi never followed him (Garnacho).”
In a comment on Alejandro Garnacho’s brother’s Twitter post, Rio Ferdinand said that he was being sarcastic or joking when he said that Messi had unfollowed Garnacho.
On the other hand, official Instagram Lionel Messi’s account shows that he is following 307 Instagram accounts.
This means that if Lionel Messi unfollowed Garnacho after November 26, then his Instagram following would have to be at least 308.
However, according to an analysis of Lionel Messi’s Instagram account by the social media analytics website Social Blade, Messi’s Instagram following has not decreased since November 26, but has actually increased by two.
The website’s INSTAGRAM STATS SUMMARY for the past 15 days shows that Messi’s following increased by one on November 17, decreased by one on November 18, increased by one on November 19, and increased by two on November 28.
This means that Social Blade’s social media analytics confirm that Messi did not unfollow anyone on Instagram after November 26, but instead followed two new accounts.
Bottom Line
On November 26, Alejandro Garnacho, part of Argentina’s Under-17 team and Manchester United, celebrated a goal against Everton by imitating Cristiano Ronaldo’s style. Subsequently, Rio Ferdinand, a former Manchester United player, humorously suggested on his YouTube talk show that Lionel Messi unfollowed Garnacho on Instagram due to this celebration. This led to widespread rumors on social media and in the press claiming Messi unfollowed Garnacho for mimicking Ronaldo’s celebration style. However, Garnacho’s brother clarified on social media that Garnacho never followed Messi. Ferdinand also acknowledged his comment was in jest. Additionally, the Rumor Scanner team confirmed that Messi hasn’t unfollowed anyone on Instagram since November 26, but had followed two new accounts.
A similar claim was already debunked by Rumor Scanner in a fact-checking report published in April.
Therefore, the claim that Lionel Messi unfollowed Alejandro Garnacho on Instagram for celebrating in the style of Cristiano Ronaldo after scoring a goal is completely false.
Source
- Rio Ferdinand Tolk Show
- Alejandro Garnacho Brother X Post
- Sportskeeda- Rio Ferdinand slammed by Alejandro Garnacho’s brother for claiming Lionel Messi unfollowed him on Instagram for Cristiano Ronaldo claim
- Social Blade- Leo Messi INSTAGRAM STATS SUMMARY
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