Lionel Messi picked up the World Cup in a black bisht – a traditional men’s cloak in the Arab world – as he was asked to put on the garment before being handed the trophy.
The Argentine led his side to a dramatic victory on penalties after an astonishing 3-3 draw with France at Lusail Iconic Stadium in Doha.
But as the 35-year-old stood waiting to be given the trophy, the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, presented Messi with a bisht similar to the one he was wearing.
Messi appeared non-plussed at first but put the garment on, before taking the trophy and going to lift it with his team-mates. It meant his Argentina shirt was partly obscured when he lifted the trophy in front of a watching audience of billions.
Messi discarded the Bisht shortly afterwards, and appeared to be wearing an Argentina shirt with three stars on it, signifying his country has now won three World Cups.
An iconic moment for an iconic player ruined
By Lee Martin, Telegraph Sport Picture Editor
The moment had arrived. The moment every Argentinian had been waiting for since the great Diego Maradona pulled the rest of his team along with him in his slipstream back in 1986. And, of course, the moment most neutrals had hoped for.
This tournament was Lionel Messi’s last chance of lifting the ultimate trophy, one that he seemed destined to miss out on when, just a few short weeks ago, they had lost to Saudi Arabia. Messi, though, was not going to just roll over. In his fifth and final World Cup he summoned the skill, energy and beauty to propel his side to glory and, in so doing, placed his name firmly alongside those of Maradona and Pele.
An iconic player lifting an ironic trophy. It’s just a shame that the equally iconic blue and white shirt worn by Messi happened to be covered up with the type of negligee my father used to buy my mother for Christmas.
Of course it wasn’t a negligee, it was an Arabic robe called a Bisht and is given as a mark of respect. That is commendable but there is a time and place. Christmas around the Martin household in years gone by perhaps, but not when the possibly the greatest player the world has ever seen is about to lift the greatest football trophy there is.
It brought back that whiff of dodgy deals and politics which may yet haunt this tournament, even if the final will go down as the greatest ever seen.