LIONEL MESSI’S new clean shaven look has prompted Piers Morgan to hilariously claim he has transformed into Manchester United legend Gary Neville.
The Argentine superstar shaved off his beard ahead of his return to the field for Barcelona.
Lionel Messi bares a strong resemblance to Gary Neville after shaving off his beard
Messi was back in action on Saturday as the Catalan giants thumped Mallorca 4-0 after months of inactivity due to Covid-19.
The 32-year-old looked like he had never been away as he bagged a goal and two assists but it was his new look that sent fans into meltdown.
Many twigged the Barca skipper now bore more than a slight resemblance to TV pundit Neville and Good Morning Britain presenter Morgan brought the unlikely lookalikes to the attention of viewers on Monday.
TV presenter Piers Morgan joked about Lionel Messi’s transformation
Morgan joked on ITV: “I just want to show a remarkable thing happened overnight, Lionel Messi has shaved his beard off, and he’s Gary Neville!
“So there, you have one of the most wondrous gifted footballers of all time, and Lionel Messi.
“Look at that, he’s turned into Neville – I wonder how Neville feels about looking like Lionel Messi.”
Neville took to his Instagram page on Sunday night to post a side by side of potentially football’s most unexpected doppelgangers.
He captioned the snap: “So alike in many ways.”
Although Neville won eight Premier League titles and has two Champions League winner’s medals from almost 20 years at Old Trafford, it is unsurprisingly the first time he has drawn comparisons with superstar Messi.
Messi is better known for the rugged beard he has been sporting of late and fans flooded the comments on Neville’s page after the ex-England defender’s humorous post.
One said: “Lovely picture of the goat and Leo Messi.”
Another, in reference to Neville’s failed spell in management at Valencia, teased: “Different levels of success in Spain…”
Gary Neville’s Valencia suffer 7-0 drubbing at the Camp Nou as Barcelona advance to Copa del Rey 2016 final
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
