Viral Image Showing Ronaldo Supporting Lionel Messi And Argentina Is Edited

The original photograph showed Cristiano Ronaldo cheering the Portuguese team during the UEFA Nations League.

Fact-check: The claim states that Cristiano Ronaldo is seen supporting the Argentinian football team and Lionel Messi in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

An edited image has gone viral which shows Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo supporting Argentina and his Argentinian contemporary Lionel Messi ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup final.

• The photo is viral with a claim that says, "My son is a Messi fan. My wife is from Argentina. And I am a Messi fan too. So our whole Ronaldo family supports Argentina for the world cup 2022. (sic)"

An archive can be seen here. 

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here. )

This comes after Ronaldo's team, Portugal, got eliminated on 10 December in the quarter-finals at the FIFA World Cup 2022. On the other hand, Argentina will be facing defending champions France for the 2022 trophy on Sunday.

How did we know?: We ran a simple reverse image search on Google, which led us to the original image posted by Ronaldo.

• He shared the image on his official Instagram account on 15 October 2020.

• The TV screen seen in the image displayed a stadium's photograph instead of Messi's image as seen in the viral photo.

• The image's caption stated that he was cheering his team before their match against Sweden in the UEFA Nations League 2020.

• We compared the viral image to the original one and found that it had been edited.

Comparison between the viral image and the original image. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

Why was Ronaldo sending his support to the team virtually?: According to an article by Reuters from 15 October 2020, Ronaldo tested positive for COVID-19, due to which he could not be a part of the match.

Conclusion: The image showing Ronaldo with Messi's visual behind a TV screen is morphed.

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