People walk past an advertisement poster depicting Argentina's soccer player Lionel Messi in Moscow, Russia June 20, 2018. Picture taken June 20, 2018. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Lionel Messi may be heading home early from the World Cup after flops on the pitch for Argentina yet he will remain a ubiquitous presence in Russia and around the world as the face of dozens of brand marketing campaigns.
For while sporting success in a single tournament is a matter of contrasting luck and split seconds -- Messi striking a penalty at the Iceland goalkeeper, arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal burying one in the Spanish net -- results in Russia will do little in themselves to damage brand "Messi", nor perhaps much to enhance the global standing of Ronaldo's "CR7".
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