Argentine farmer grows 124-acre image of Lionel Messi to celebrate World Cup triumph

A farmer in Argentina has grown a huge 124-acre image of Lionel Messi to celebrate the legend’s World Cup triumph in Qatar.

Messi produced a string of stellar performances during the tournament to inspire Argentina to World Cup glory. They came out on top after a tense and dramatic penalty shootout against France.

To celebrate this historic achievement, farmer Maximiliano Spinazze decided to grow an image of Messi by planting a specially designed cornfield.

Spinazze used an algorithm which calculated where seeds would need to be planted in his field in Los Condores, which is in the central Cordoba province of Argentina.

As a result, a huge picture of Messi’s face appeared and it is reportedly visible from space.

Spinazze said: “Now they are world champions, I am delighted this can be expressed by planting the crop.”

The farming engineer who designed the coding for the machines sowing the seeds that made Messi’s face appear on the field explained the procedure.

Carlos Faricelli said: “I had the idea to make a code that goes in the seeders with Messi's face as a tribute.

“Using geocoding tools, the machinery knows how much seed per square meter it has to put in certain places to create the contrast for different parts of Messi's face.”

He continued: “So when this corn grows and an aerial shot is taken, where the plants are closer together and the ground is less visible, a more intense green contrasts with where there are fewer plants and then this kind of agriculture art is created.”

Spinazze is not the only Argentine to pay tribute to Messi after the World Cup. One fan tattooed the Paris Saint Germain star’s name on his face but later revealed he regrets getting the ink.

Mike Jambs said: “I regret having done the tattoo because instead of bringing me positive things, it's led to lots of negative things, both personally and for my family.”