Lionel Messi or Mohamed Salah: which of the Middle East's lookalikes is more accurate?

The faces of football fans in Egypt light up when they see the the famous red and blue stripes of Barcelona and that familiar bearded face.

But if they asked Islam Battah to put on a footballing show worthy of the greatest player on the planet, they would know something would be awry.

Battah has become a big celebrity with youngsters in the Nile Delta city of Zagazig, north of Cairo, for his likeness to Lionel Messi.

"When I started growing my beard, my friends told me that I look like Messi. When I grew my beard even more, the resemblance was clearer," he recently told Reuters.

"The kids' happiness with the resemblance between me and Messi is indescribable. When you make someone happy, God rewards you. I wanted to share this happiness with them," he added.

The 27-year-old is a painter - not an Argentina international footballer with dozens of records and a trophy cabinet brimming with nearly every top award available in the game.

And while he may be lacking in the football skills department, he certainly isn't when it comes to being the doppelganger of a football star.

However, he isn't the only person in the region to be gaining more than a second glance when seen out and about.

The Iraqi Mohamed Salah

Egypt's Liverpool star Mohamed Salah is known to have more than one lookalike, with Iraq's Hussein Ali arguably the most accurate representation.

His black beard and curly hair are unmistakable, plus he played the game, making it on to the books of Al Zawraa, Iraq's most decorated club.

He told AFP back in 2018 how he couldn't leave his house without being stopped for photographs or approached by football fans as the real Mohamed Salah's performances hit new heights on the pitch.

"When Mohamed Salah was injured, there were some who came to see me as if it was me who was suffering," he said.

Messi or Salah?

The 'other' cases of Mohamed Salah

As mentioned above, Hussein Ali isn't the only person to have more than a passing resemblance of the "Egyptian King".

Here's a few more ...

Fellow Egyptian Ahmed Bahaa, an electronics engineer from Cairo, has such a likeness that he has stood in for the real Salah in adverts and got to meet his double - but which one is which?

He says people take photos of him everywhere and even his kids call him Salah.

Here we have another Egyptian, but this time in Kuwait. Mohamed Ibrahim, a butcher, came to the public's attention in 2019.

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