Messi gifts Argentina's World Cup-winning team 24-carat gold-plated iPhones worth £175,000

FIFA Best and World Cup winner Lionel Messi has rewarded his Argentina World Cup-winning team with customized gold-plated iPhones to immortalise their historic achievement in Qatar.

La Albiceleste defeated World Champions France 4-2 in the shootouts after a remarkable 120 minutes of football ended in a thrilling 3-3 stalemate at the Lusail Iconic Stadium in Doha.

The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner and recently crowned FIFA Best, Messi, after leading his charges to glory has decided to engrave the memory by gifting each member of the team with a customized iPhone which has their names and jersey numbers inscribed on it.

According to reports, the PSG star had the consignments delivered to his Parisian apartment on Saturday as he plans to give them out to his teammates during their next international break.

Ben Lyons is quoted to have told The Sun, “Messi got in touch with us a couple of months after the World Cup final. He said he wanted a special gift for all the players and staff to celebrate the amazing win but didn’t want the usual gift of watches.

“So, I suggested gold iPhones inscribed with their names and he loved the idea,” he added.