THE bisht that Lionel Messi wore to lift the World Cup reportedly cost £1,650.
Argentina triumphed in an all-time classic on Sunday as they beat France on penalties after a thrilling 3-3 draw in Qatar.
Captain Messi then had the responsibility of lifting the trophy for his country in his fifth and final World Cup.
But seconds before he did so, Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani placed a bisht – which is a a traditional men’s cloak popular in the Arab world – over his shoulders.
Messi then joined the rest of his team-mates and proceeded to celebrate with the iconic gold trophy.
It has now been revealed that the two bishts – each worth £1,650 – were custom-made for the respective captains, Messi and France skipper Hugo Lloris.
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Qatar-based tailor Muhammad Abdullah Al-Salem was responsible for making the items of clothing.
He told Esquire Middle East Arabic: “At first, we were not aware when we were asked to design this bisht that it was for the World Cup champion.
“We were surprised that the bisht that Messi wore was from our store, and I felt proud when my knowledge is that our store was the first choice of officials to manufacture this bisht.”
Speaking specifically about what the design had to be, he then added: “The required specifications were for the bisht to be light, which we understood later and seemed logical to us, and its purpose is for the winning team’s uniform to appear clearly from behind the bisht.”
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Messi won the Golden Ball for his sensational performances at the World Cup – which included seven goals and three assists.
But he narrowly missed out on the Golden Boot as Kylian Mbappe’s hat-trick saw him rack up eight goals in Qatar.
Argentina’s triumph is their first since 1986 when Diego Maradona inspired them to glory.
And their fans celebrated in their thousands on Tuesday as they flocked to the centre of Buenos Aires for the open top bus parade.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
