About

Lionel Messi Nod, also known as Messi Nodding GIF or Messi Ok Meme, is a reaction GIF used in a series of memes based on a video of Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi nodding and saying what looks like, "Okay," or, "Good," to English soccer player Jude Bellingham during a match between Argentina and England in the 2026 FIFA World Cup semifinals.

The match was played on July 15th, 2026, and Argentina ultimately won. The nod became the subject of memes as early as July 16th. As a meme, the video of Messi nodding is used in image macros and GIF captions and as a reaction image, usually to convey a disrespectful nod and represent someone who is looking to get revenge.

Origin

On July 15th, 2026, Argentina faced off against England in a 2026 FIFA World Cup semifinal match. Argentina, the team that Lionel Messi plays for, won. At one point in the game, Messi was captured on video nodding and saying what looks like, "Okay," or, "Good," to English player Jude Bellingham after arguing with him and a referee over a call.

The clip of Messi was first used as a meme as early as July 16th, 2026. One of the earliest known uses of the clip was posted by the funnyhoodvidz Instagram^[1] page on that day, attaching it to the caption, "Babe he is just a friend," garnering over 332,000 likes in a week.

Spread

The Lionel Messi Nodding meme continued to spread on social media throughout late July 2026 as it was used as a reaction GIF and image in different edits.

On July 17th, 2026, TikToker^[2] @rudoskiii posted a meme captioned, "When bro scores first on FIFA and doesn't skip the replay so you hit the Messi nod," joking that the nod means he's going to get revenge, garnering over 2.1 million views in six days.

That day, Instagram^[3] user n4sty._.edits7 posted a similar meme using a similar caption that gained over 99,000 likes in six days.

On July 20th, 2026, Redditor BlueWhaleocean posted a meme to the /r/dankmemes^[4] subreddit using the nod to point out how underappreciated the importance of nitrogen is to the Earth as opposed to oxygen, garnering over 8,800 upvotes in three days.

Various Examples

Template / GIF

Search Interest

External References