Aside from silverware, it’s supposedly one of the highest honours in football: getting your own statue.
Your face and likeness inscribed in stone or metal, an eternal physical tribute to your career and success, a monument memorialising your past glories.
On Tuesday, Lionel Messi became the latest footballing star to be presented with a statue, as the Argentina captain was rewarded with a larger than life-size sculpture after leading his country to World Cup glory in Qatar.
But there are plenty of terrible-looking football statues too – just ask Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah and Diego Maradona (among others)!
It can be tough to get it right – and below, Sportsmail looks at the best, worst and ugliest football statues in history.
The good…
Lionel Messi
Earlier this week, Messi was honoured with a statue of himself holding the World Cup trophy, and though it won’t come close to the feeling of lifting it in Qatar, he was clearly emotional as he unveiled it.
South American football’s governing body CONMEBOL hosted the entire Argentina team in an event dubbed ‘The Night of the Stars’ on Monday, with the monument set to stand beside similar statues of Maradona and Pele in the CONMEBOL museum in Luque, Paraguay.
Messi was visibly awestruck as the curtain raised on the statue, and said: ‘I never dreamed or thought about this. My dream was to enjoy what I liked when I was little, to be a professional soccer player, to do what I always loved in this life.
‘I had a very long road, many decisions and defeats, but I always looked ahead and wanted to go for a triumph, for a victory. I think that the most important thing (is) to fight for your dreams. (To know) that everything is possible and to enjoy the game, which is the most beautiful thing there is.’
Messi was also given the ceremonial ‘baton of football’ by CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez, which apparently gives him the ‘leadership and command of world football’. I’ll just take the statue, cheers, Alejandro.
David Beckham
‘Becks’ will likely be satisfied with his bronze statue at Legend’s Plaza outside the Dignity Health Sports Park in California.
Outside the stadium of LA Galaxy, the Major League Soccer club where Beckham spent five years, he was honoured with this pretty accurate depiction.
It manages to capture his quiff, his good looks, and nicely portrays his classic stance when taking a trademark free kick.
Pretty good marks for this effort.
Dennis Bergkamp
Dennis Bergkamp is one of the most cherished players in Arsenal history, given his elegance on the ball and his capacity for creating moments of magic.
The below statue, in front of the wall of legends which also shows Bergkamp, also manages to give fans a sense of his seemingly effortless athleticism and grace.
A little ironic, perhaps, that given his nickname of the ‘Non-Flying Dutchman’ (he was afraid of flying on aeroplanes), that his statue is airborne.
Honourable mentions to the makers of tributes to Bobby Moore, Tom Finney, the late lifetime Valencia fan Vicente Aparacio – whose statue was placed in his favourite vantage point at the Mestalla Stadium – and Manchester United’s ‘Holy Trinity’.
Legendary former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly’s isn’t bad either.
The bad…
Marco Materazzi-Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane’s World Cup headbutt on Marco Materazzi is bizarrely remembered in Paris
Mohamed Salah
Mo Salah’s tribute is hilariously awful and out of proportion, with a massive head and tiny arms
Luis Suarez
While Luis Suarez’ statue on a random street corner in Uruguay is almost, but not quite, lifesize
…and the ugly
Cristiano Ronaldo
Where else to start? Cristiano Ronaldo’s awful bust is infamously one of the worst of all time
The new bust (right) is obviously better but much blander than the weird initial attempt (left)
Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona’s shaggy hair in this statue, unveiled in Kolkata in 2017, wasn’t quite right
Michael Essien
Ghana midfielder Michael Essien might not be too happy with this tribute in his home country
Source: dailymail.co.uk
