Wedding gates: Football-mad Indian couple get married in Messi and Mbappe shirts, racing through the ceremony so they can get home to watch the World Cup final
- Sachin R and R Athira didn’t want their wedding anniversary to interfere with the cup final
- They wore leotards over their jewelry and traditional wedding attire
- They also raced home from their reception to watch the finale on December 18th
- Argentina won the final 4-2 on penalties
A football-mad couple celebrated this year’s World Cup by wearing Messi and Mbappe shirts to tie the knot at their wedding – the couple then ran home to watch the final.
Sachin R and R Athira didn’t want their wedding day to get in the way of their love of football and while they agree on most issues in their day-to-day lives, they were at odds over which team to support.
Sachin is an avid fan of Argentinian star Lionel Messi while Athira is a huge fan of the French soccer team starring Mbappe.
The couple love the game so much that they chose not to wear the traditional wedding dress, instead sporting French and Argentinian football shirts with the names Messi and Mbappe.
Sachin R and R Athira didn’t want their wedding anniversary to disrupt the World Cup final between Argentina and France
Hours before the two teams met at Qatar’s Lusail Stadium on Sunday, December 18, they married in a ceremony in the city of Kochi, Kerala, India.
They wore leotards over their jewelry and traditional wedding attire.
The Malayala Manorama newspaper reported that the couple raced through the reception and wedding feast to return in time to Sachin’s home in Thiruvananthapuram – 128 miles away – to watch the finale.
Kerala football fans have always been distinguished by their love of football – the southern Indian state has a large fan base for Messi and the country is known worldwide for its love of cricket.
Argentina won the final 4-2 on penalties, giving 35-year-old Messi a chance to lift the World Cup trophy after lifting the adidas Golden Ball for Qatar 2022.
Football flags and makeshift screens were set up across the states, allowing fans to celebrate together as Messi played his last game of the World Cup.
People gathered in the thousands to watch the game and while Argentina were comfortably 2-0 up, France managed to bring it back for a short time until they were eventually defeated on penalties.