Argentina icon Lionel Messi has poured blood, sweat and tears into becoming one of the greatest players to ever grace a football pitch.
All Reza Parastesh had to do for his fame, however, was look just like the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner. Dubbed the “Iranian Messi”, he went viral worldwide back in 2017 for the uncanny resemblance.
Sounds like a breeze, right? Well while Reza, 30, had his life transformed in the blink of an eye just as many people dream of, it certainly hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for him in the years since.
That’s in large part because of accusations that he used his appearance to fraud his way into bed with adoring Messi fans. Spanish outlet Marca claimed in 2019 he’d conned a total of 23 women into having sex with him as they thought he was the then-Barcelona and now PSG star.
Reza denied ever doing such a thing – after all, he lives in a traditionally conservative country where it’s illegal to have sexual relations outside of marriage. But that didn’t stop the rumour spreading like wildfire, with Match of the Day host Gary Lineker one prominent figure who shared it to his millions of followers.
