An Iranian student who bears a very close resemblance to Lionel Messi, the Barcelona superstar has suddenly a become celebrity overnight in his native land. Lionel Messi is generally believed to the best footballer of all-time and many people aspire to be like him. So it comes as a big privilege for anyone to resemble him and thus attract attention wherever he goes.

However, Reza’s new status almost landed him in jail for disrupting public order. So many people came out to take selfies with him in the western city of Hamedan over the weekend that police rushed him into a station and impounded his car to stop the chaos and clear traffic.

The resemblance is so uncanny that some leading news outlets have reportedly used his photo when talking about the real Messi. In the above photo, Reza Parastesh is the one on the left, whilst his sporting hero Lionel Messi, is pictured right.

According to an online report, Reza’s father started this whole thing when he asked his son to pose like Messi. The student was reluctant at first, but eventually grew into the role, wearing the Barcelona strip out in public, growing his hair and beard to match the footballer and carrying a ball.3