A pilot caused chaos on a flight after the World Cup final when he appeared to announce that Argentina had won the tournament.
Footage posted on TikTok seemingly showed passengers being told the result of the tie between Argentina and Spain, with many wearing the South American country’s football shirts.
In the video the pilot told those travelling: ‘It was a fiercely contested match right to the end, including extra time.
‘Both teams gave it their all but unfortunately, only one team can win the World Cup final.’
He then said: ‘We wanted to congratulate our Argentine friends.’
At that point the cabin erupted into cheers and screams as Argentine fans were apparently fooled into thinking they had won back-to-back tournaments in what is believed to be Lionel Messi’s last appearance at the event.
But fans, some of whom were wearing Messi jerseys with his number 10 emblazoned alongside the golden 2022 winner’s patch, fell silent as the captain continued: ‘Spain has won.’
Argentinian media described the captain’s move as a ‘sick joke’.
Some passengers sported the number 10 Lionel Messi jersey as they heard the news from the pilot
Newspaper La Voz del Interior said: ‘During a flight, as the World Cup was reaching its climax, a Spanish captain announced a false result that sparked celebrations among the passengers before revealing Spain were the champions.’
Another Argentinian news outlet, branding his actions as ‘terrible’, said: ‘Not only did he commit a terrible act with a questionable sense of humour, but he exposed himself to serious consequences aboard the aircraft once the truth finally came out.
‘The passengers might have wanted to confront him or enter the cockpit. A massive blunder.’
The name of the airline and the plane’s destination are as yet unknown.
Argentina came within minutes of a fourth World Cup win on Sunday but were sunk by Ferran Torres’s extra time strike, which saw Spain crowned champions for the second time.
It marked Messi’s second World Cup final loss after his country fell 1-0 to Germany in 2014.
After a succession of extra time knockout wins, Argentina’s luck ran out and they ended their defence of the title they won in Qatar four years ago.
Messi, 39, is unlikely to feature in the next tournament, to be held across six countries – Morocco, Portugal and Spain with one-off matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay – but is yet to make a statement on his future.
The Spanish team returned home on Monday and paraded through the streets on an open-top bus to celebrate their first World Cup triumph since beating the Netherlands, also after extra time, in South Africa 16 years ago.
