Sergio Ramos sparked widespread controversy after sharing a picture on his Instagram account of himself embracing Argentina captain Lionel Messi, his former team-mate at Paris Saint-Germain. At first glance, the image looked genuine.
Followers soon spotted the truth. Artificial intelligence had generated the picture to immortalise a moment that brought Ramos together with Messi after the 2026 World Cup final.
Many assumed the embrace between Ramos and Messi had never happened. Video footage published later proved it was real. Nobody captured the moment on camera, though, which is why the former La Roja star turned to an AI-edited image for his Instagram post.
Several inaccuracies in the design of Messi's Argentina shirt gave the edit away.
The most obvious was the missing official World Cup badge on the right sleeve. The design also failed to match the official kit from the back, showing two vertical lines that resembled the 2024-2025 season shirt, while the current shirt uses a single broad line.
An old font appeared in Messi's name and number too, rather than the official font adopted for the World Cup.
The image still drew huge engagement despite these flaws. It captures a symbolic moment between two of the biggest stars of the last two decades, men who spent years as fierce rivals in the Spanish Clasico before becoming team-mates at Paris Saint-Germain.