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- Dubai 04:25 05:43 12:19 15:46 18:50 20:09
Argentina's forward Lionel Messi attends a training session at the Cidade do Galo base camp in Vespasiano near Belo Horizonte during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. (AFP)
Believe it or not, football genius Lionel Messi came to the rescue of an engineer who was kidnapped in Nigeria.
An Argentine agronomist who was kidnapped in Nigeria has credited his release to his mention of Lionel Messi, the Argentine football great.
"Tell them to thank Messi - naming him is what saved me," Santiago Menendez told his brother after his release Friday, two days after being kidnapped by an armed gang in central Nigeria, the newspaper Clarin reported Sunday.
The 28-year-old Menendez, who managed two farms for Nigerian Flour Mills Plc, said he shouted "Messi, Messi, Messi" to establish a rapport with the kidnappers, who freed him two days later in exchange for a ransom.
Initially, the kidnappers thought he was an American and tortured him but Menendez failed to convince them he was an Argentine.
Ultimately shouting Messi's name stopped the kidnapper's harsh treatment.
Messi is playing for Argentina in the Copa America in Chile.
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