Did the Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi speak at length about his emotions upon seeing a woman holding a "100 year old Messi fan" banner in the stands? No, that's not true: While a centenarian in the stands really did hold up a sign for him, the quotes attributed to Messi are made up. They were published by an X "fan account" that has a "Fictional Quotes" disclaimer.
The quotes appeared in a post (archived here) by the X account @markklfc on June 23, 2026. The post caption begins:
Lionel Messi on the 100-year-old fan holding the '100 YEAR OLD MESSI FAN' banner:
🗣️ 'When I saw her in the stands... I honestly had to hold myself together. In that moment, football disappeared for me. It wasn't a stadium anymore, it wasn't noise, it wasn't pressure it was just emotion.'
'Someone who has lived a whole century of life... through wars, through generations, through everything the world has endured... and she is still here, smiling, holding my name in her hands. I don't even know how to explain what that feels like.'
Two images were included with the post (pictured below). One photo shows Lionel Messi speaking in a post-match interview, the other shows an elderly woman holding a sign:
(Image source: post by @markklfc on X.)
(Image source: post by @markklfc on X.)
The X post continues with more quotations attributed to Messi, nine in all -- they are all fictitious:
'It made me think about everything my first steps in football, the dreams I had as a child, the sacrifices my family made... and somehow, through all those years, my name reached someone like her. It's overwhelming.'
'I don't deserve something like that. No player does. Because this goes beyond football. This is love from a lifetime, not just a moment.'
'I looked at her and I just wanted to stop time for a second... to say thank you properly. Not as a footballer, but as a human being who understands how rare it is to be loved like that for so long.'
'There are goals that make noise, trophies that make headlines, but this... this was something completely different. Pure, unconditional connection between two lives that were never meant to meet, but somehow did through football.'
'If I could give her anything, it wouldn't be a shirt or a photo. It would be time. Because the fact she spent part of her life supporting me... I will carry that forever.'
'When I retire, I will remember nights like this more than anything else. Because at the end of everything, football is not about records... it is about hearts that connect without even speaking.'
'And in that moment, I realized something very simple... I am not just playing for trophies. I am playing for people like her.'
The X account @markklfc (archived here) has a bio that says "Fictional Quotes." The banner image of the profile says, "Mark quotes you wish were true." (pictured below). It is marked as a fan account (archived here), a label X explains this way:
Parody, Fan, and Commentary (PCF) labels are selected by people on X to indicate that the account depicts another person, group, or organization in their profile to discuss, satirize, or share information about that entity. This label distinguishes these accounts to ensure they do not cause confusion for others or incorrectly imply any affiliation.
(Image source: @markklfc on X.)
The second photo showing the fan holding the sign reading, "100 year old Messi fan," is a real photo. Pauline Kana is a social media influencer who goes by the nicknames Gangster Granny and Granny Smith. She shares TikTok and Instagram account s(archived here and here) with her grandson Ross Smith. Kana has been staging playful fan moments for years. One example was on June 24, 2025, during a match in Florida between Inter Miami and Palmeiras. Kana held up a sign that asked, "Messi will you marry me?" A post (archived here) on Instagram celebrates a thumbs up gesture from Messi as a "Yes."
Lead Stories searched Google for each of the quotes posted by @markklfc individually. Each time, the results only pointed to duplicate copies of the false social media post -- but not to any news reporting or recorded interviews. There is no evidence that Messi publicly acknowledged Kana by saying any of the things quoted in the @markklfc post.
Messi thanks the fans of the Argentina national team at 22 seconds in a video clip from the post-match interview following the June 16, 2026, match against Algeria. The captions below are YouTube's auto-generated translations.
First, I'm grateful to the people because once again it shows that Argentina is always behind us! We came back, we filled the stadium, again I don't know if there were 80,000 people or more. And yeah, just thankful for all the effort they make wherever we are they're always there.
