Claim: Social media users claim that Argentina’s captain, Lionel Messi, was named Man of the Match in their game against Poland.
Verdict: DUBAWA Ghana found the claim false after checking with official records from FIFA and the award sponsors.
Full Text
Argentina booked a place in the knock-out phase of the ongoing FIFA World Cup after a 2-0 victory over Poland on Wednesday, November 30.
After the game, some social media users asserted that the captain of the Argentine team, Lionel Messi, was officially named the Man-of-the-match by FIFA. They add that the seven-time Ballon D’or winner, who had missed a penalty minutes before the end of the first half of the game, gave the award to teammate Mac Allister.
Central Midfielder Alexis Mac Allister put his team in the lead shortly after the game resumed for the second half.
Social media users making a claim are backing it with a photo with the inscription: “Player of the match” together with the image of Lionel Messi.
They also add the photo of Mac Allister with the award.
Some of the accounts that have been seen to have made a claim, which has attracted thousands of online reactions, can be found here, here, here, and here
Verification
The Man of the Match award is given to the player who fans think gave the best performance during the game.
In this year’s world cup, the FIFA Man of the Match is being sponsored by Budweiser, with the winner determined by the public, who can cast their votes on the FIFA+ website.
The portal for voting is open whilst the game is ongoing, and the winner is announced after the game.
During Thursday’s Belgium vs Croatia game, the author of this report voted Kevin De Bruyne as the Player of the Match. After the polls closed, it was possible to have a design similar to the one being circulated on social media to back the claim being investigated.
However, Croatia’s Luka Modric won the poll and was announced as the award’s winner.
The FIFA+ portal is regularly updated with the Man of the Match winner of every game played in this year’s World Cup.
When we checked for the winner in Argentina vs Poland game, Alexis Mac Allister was shown as the winner, and not Lionel Messi as it is being claimed.
Furthermore, a YouTube video uploaded by FIFA shows the Central Midfielder with the Player of the Match award. The video is titled “Alexis Mac Allister – Poland vs Argentina Budweiser Player of the Match.”
A social media post by Budweiser and FIFA also corroborates with evidence found so far that Mac Allister was the Player of the Match in Argentina’s game against Poland.
Conclusion
Official records from FIFA and Budweiser show that Mac Allister was named winner of the Player of the match between Argentina and Poland. Again, it is very likely that the photo of Messi being announced as the award’s winner emerged after a fan voted him as the winner.
