Turkish chef Salt Bae wanted to experience his own moment of greatness, trying to gain some of the glory of the World Cup winners in Qatar, and took pictures with several players, which he published on his Instagram profile.
Anyone who sees the photos will come to the conclusion, probably wrongly, that Nusret Gökçe, the real name of Salt Bae, is a close friend of most of the players of the victorious Argentina, and especially Lionel Messi.
The reality looks slightly different if you watch the behind-the-scenes video of the photoshoot, as he may have rushed to take a photo with the winners, but he found them disinterested, especially Messi.
The video shows Argentina's players celebrating and the Argentine exchanging hugs and kisses. At that moment, the Turkish-Kurdish chef is… lurking, waiting for the moment to meet him. Messi looks at him, but is completely unconcerned and continues his celebrations with his teammates.
Gökçe, undeterred, pulls him by the hand, but receives his indifference again. However, at some point, probably a little later, he succeeds and has his coveted photo with the MVP of the world's premier sport tournament.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
The owner of the Nusr-Et steakhouse franchise was also pictured holding the Jules Rimet trophy and took a photo with Angel Di Maria, who scored the second goal before he was substituted, after the game.
He then performed his trademark 'salt sprinkle' in a video clip with Argentina defender Cristian Romero, who clearly had more familiarity with the social media personality than his captain Messi.
In the Twitter video captioned 'Even Messi knows salt bae is a hack', fans have angrily questioned why the 39-year-old was allowed onto the pitch.
One fan said: 'F***ng absurd. Who let Saltbae out on the pitch? Saw a bunch of photos of him HOLDING the World Cup trophy, and even a picture of him biting on a medal.
'At least Messi knew not to give that guy trying to make THEIR moment about HIM any attention. Desperately grabbing Messi.'
Another posted: 'Somebody actually let SaltBae touch the World Cup and he smacked it,' followed by a crying emoji.
FIFA's rules state only a 'very select group of people' can touch the trophy - calling into question why the Z-lister was allowed anywhere near it.
— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) December 18, 2022
Mbappe cut a forlorn figure after Argentina's victory despite his heroics, having become just the second man to score a treble in the final, with the match ending 3-3 after extra time.
Macron was seen attempting to console Mbappe following the penalty shootout, with the French President lifting the forward off the pitch and gripping his arm.
Mbappe attemped to walk away from Macron, as the politician supportively spoke to him.
After addressing Mbappe, Macron appeared to have been blanked in the aftermath of the defeat by French head coach Didier Deschamps.
He again attempted to console Mbappe during the post-match presentation, when the PSG star received his runners-up medal and golden boot.
'It's extraordinary what Mbappé did, but the whole team,' Macron told RMC Sport. 'Mbappe is a great player but he's young.
'I was as sad as him. I told him he'd made us very proud, and in the end we've lost a football match, we came so close. That's how it is in sport.'
