As superstar footballer Lionel Messi arrived in Paris, France to finalise his transfer to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on Tuesday, 10 August, a video of a massive crowd is being shared to claim that it shows fans waiting at the airport for Messi.
While it is true that fans had gathered to welcome Messi in Paris, however, the viral video is from July when people had crowded in Milwaukee, a city in Wisconsin, USA for a National Basketball Association (NBA) match.
CLAIM
The claim along with the video reads: "Paris fans at the airport waiting for Messi (sic)."
One such Facebook video had garnered 56,000 views and 2,700 shares at the time of writing the article.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
While going through the comments on one of the Facebook posts, we found that users had shared a screenshot of an article that mentioned about crowd gathering for an NBA match.
We then found the article published by 'Bangor Daily News' on 21 July that carried a photo similar to the visuals seen in the viral video and had attributed it to "Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP."
The same photo was published in an AP article and the caption along with it read, "Fans gather in the Deer District for Game 6 of the NBA Finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns at Fiserv Forum on Tuesday, 20 July 2021, in Milwaukee."
Milwaukee is a city in the US state of Wisconsin.
Taking a cue from here, we searched on YouTube with keywords 'fans deer district Milwaukee game 6' and came across a video uploaded on NBA's official YouTube handle with the caption: "The Deer District Right Before Tip!"
On comparing NBA's video with the viral one, we found several similar elements in the two. For instance, the building of Mecca Sports Bar and Grill and the placement of trees.
Here's a live view of the said location available on Google Maps.
A Chicago Tribune report mentioned that fans had gathered outside Fiserv Forum on 20 July for Game 6 of the NBA Finals in which the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns to win the championship in Milwaukee. The Bucks won their first NBA title since 1971.
MESSI ARRIVES IN PARIS, WELCOMED BY FANS
On Tuesday, 10 August, footballer Lionel Messi arrived in Paris to complete his transfer to Paris Saint-Germain and has signed on for two years. News agency Reuters carried LIVE visuals of him arriving in Paris and being welcomed by fans.
However, these visuals are different as compared to the viral one.
Earlier, a tearful Lionel Messi bid farewell to FC Barcelona on Sunday, 8 August, at the Nou Camp. The club had confirmed they could not re-sign Messi due to their financial problems and also blaming La Liga’s regulations for the decision.
Evidently, a viral video showing fans gathered for a NBA match in July in USA was falsely linked to Lionel Messi's arrival in Paris.
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