Football fans were left less than impressed after Salt Bae made his way onto the pitch, attempted to get selfies with the winning team and held the World Cup.
As you’re probably aware, Argentina beat France on penalties during the nail-biting final in Qatar last night (18 December).
You can see Salt Bae’s cringe-worthy attempts at congratulating Messi here:
Advert
With it being such an important game, numerous celebrities were in attendance - including the salt sprinkling Turkish chef (real name Nusret Gökçe).
In footage after the game had finished, Salt Bae can be seen attempting to grab Messi, but the player seems to completely ignore him and continues hugging his teammates instead.
Salt Bae also shared a photo of himself holding the World Cup trophy.
However, some fans were left less than impressed with the celebrity chef and questioned why he was allowed onto the pitch.
The Times' sport correspondent Martyn Ziegler shared a screenshot of Salt Bae holding the trophy on Twitter, where he wrote: “I’d love to hear FIFA’s explanation of why this celebrity chef gets access onto the pitch at a World Cup final for selfies with Messi etc.”
Fellow sports journalist André Noruega shared a screenshot showing the official rules surrounding the trophy, which explain it ‘can only be touched and held by a very select group of people, which includes former winners of the FIFA World Cup and heads of state’.
He wrote: “Uhm, okay then. Salt Bae is either a World Cup winner or head of state, then.”
In another post, he wrote: “F**king absurd. Who let Salt Bae out on the pitch? Saw a bunch of photos of him HOLDING the World Cup trophy, and even a picture of him biting on a medal.
"At least Messi knew not to give that guy trying to make THEIR moment about HIM any attention.”
Another Twitter users shared screenshots of the slightly awkward exchange been Salt Bae and Messi and wrote: “Messi told Salt Bae no twice while he's trying to hug his family, guy chased and grabbed him again.”
Someone else asked: "Why am I seeing Salt Bar [sic] on my screen at the World Cup ceremony?"
Despite initially appearing to pie him off, it turns out that Messi did eventually get a photo with the chef who shared the snap alongside a slew of photos from the event.
Claire Reid