About

Encara Messi or Ankara Messi, also known as Messi Messi Messi Meme, refers to a viral video of Argentinian football player Lionel Messi scoring a goal in a 2007 match. The original "Ankara" (by Catalan narrator Joaquim Maria Puyal) audio came from a clip of a goal by Messi against the team Getafe, and in 2021 it became a popular TikTok trend after a sound was uploaded mixing the narration with the music ‘Swing Lynn’ by the band Harmless.

Origin

The narration of the Catalan journalist^[1] was recorded on April 18th, 2007, when the Argentine star Lionel Messi^[2] (now at PSG football team) did an impressive sprint across the field and scored a goal for the FC Barcelona^[3] team. The narrator kept repeating the Argentine’s name saying “encara Messi, encara Messi,” which can be interpreted^[4] as a direct translation in Catalan for “still Messi” – as in “Messi still has the ball at his feet!”

The nickname ‘Ankara’ and the video of Messi’s 2007 goal went viral on social media, having memes being spread as images, TikTok sounds and other trends. This clip by a fan page of the Argentinian streamer Luquitas Rodriguez^[5], @OfLuquita, is one of the earliest known encara Messi memes. It shows Rodriguez counting how many times the narrator of the game said the name "Messi." The post (seen below) has 170,000 views in more than a year since it was uploaded on Twitter.

Ankara Messi pic.twitter.com/TuQgeAOx31

— Out of context luquita rodriguez (@OfLuquita) June 29, 2021

Spread

The meme started around June 2021, thanks to Luquitas Rodríguez, who has become famous for reacting to football matches and referring to Lionel Messi with the strange nickname "Ankara." In the video below, Luquitas explains the origin of the meme.

On June, 9th, 2021, @footballcrazzyjr_____ TikTok^[6] account posted a video of the narration mixed with the music music ‘Swing Lynn’ by the band Harmless. The TikTok, seen below, has earned 8 million views in a year since posted.

The narration audio went viral on TikTok, accumulating 95.000 videos in a year. Typically, the content showed couples chatting, and talking, with one of the partners trying to convince the other to kiss. In the background, Puyal's mythical phrase of "encara Messi, encara Messi…" until the 'climax' occurs and everything ends well (or not, as there are "fail" versions of the trend). The video below by TikToker^[7] @ju.aranhagives a popular example of this trend, uploaded on February 11, 2022. It received over 16 million views and 2.1 million likes in approximately seven months.

The trend became more popular around September 2021. This video, posted by @wichozp on TikTok^[8] on September 26th, 2021, of two people flirting until the kiss happens in the end. The post received 19 million views and 3 million likes in a year.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References