ISIS fanatics have targeted Lionel Messi in their latest propaganda poster promoting terror attacks at the Russia World Cup this summer.
The photoshopped image shows the Barcelona and Argentina star on his knees wearing an orange Guantanamo Bay-style jumpsuit, often seen worn by victims in the terrorists’ execution videos.
Messi is depicted on his knees inside Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium – venue for the World Cup final – with a masked jihadi to his left and the threat ‘so strike them upon the necks and strike from them every fingertips’ emblazoned above them.
The official logo for the tournament has been altered to make it look like the world cup and the number eight in 2018 has been damaged.
Sticks of dynamite can also be seen resting up against the halfway-line flag in the picture as the jihadi holds Messi’s hair with one hand and gestures with his other hand.
It’s not the first time the five-time world footballer of the year has been targeted by ISIS.
In October another poster emerged showing the Barcelona star behind bars in an attempt by terror fanatics to spread fear ahead of the the tournament in Russia.
It came after another chilling poster showed a terrorist armed with a gun and explosives near a football stadium in Russia along with the words: ‘I swear that the Mujahideen’s fire will burn you… just you wait’.
According to SITE, which monitors terror activity, pro-ISIS group the Wafa’ Media Foundation, published the World Cup warning in the wake of another recent threat.
Earlier in October, the terrorist group published an image of a rifle-carrying ISIS fighter and a bomb baring the regime’s infamous black flag in front of a football stadium.
The official symbol of the 2018 World Cup finals was also included in the alarming promise to bring mayhem to the tournament.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be played across 11 cities in Russia from June 14 to July 15, when the final will be played at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Tens of thousands of England fans are expected to base themselves in St Petersburg for the month-long finals.
St Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, was the scene of an horrific ISIS attack when a briefcase bomb detonated on the underground in April, killing 14 people.
The blast was in retaliation to Russia’s airstrikes in Syria that have helped bring the regime to its knees.
Thousands of Russians from mainly central Asia have travelled to the Middle East to fight for ISIS.
Experts in Moscow believe around 2,400 joined the regime in 2015 alone.
England’s involvement in the tournament has been questioned in the wake of the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury which the government has blamed on Russia.
Some politicians have called for the national team to boycott the tournament.
