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What a Messi: Artworks sold off for charity

His fancy footwork has earned him the Golden Boot award three times but now Lionel Messi has been immortalized by two of the world´s most famous contemporary artists and sold off for charity.

What a Messi: Artworks sold off for charity
Beatiful Messi Spin Painting for One in Eleven by Damien Hirst. Photo:Sotheby´s

Artworks depicting the Argentine Barça striker raised almost €1million euros at an auction on Thursday evening which will go to help children in war-torn and poverty stricken countries

A work by British artist Damien Hirst entitled "Beautiful spinning painting of Messi for 1 in 11"  proved the top seller of the night at London´s Sotheby´s when it went under the hammer for €490,000 ($561,000).

While Takashi Murakami´s “Lionel Messi and a universe of flowers”, featuring the Japanese artist´s trademark Kaikai Kiki flower background, sold for €428,000.

Lionel Messi and a Universe of Flowers, Takashi Murakami. Photo: Sotheby´s

The works were among those sold off to raise over €3 million euros for a project between FC Barcelona Foundation, Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) and UNICEF.

“The project aims to promote education via sport in Bangladesh, Nepal and Indonesia. The aim is to contribute to reducing the figure of 58 million children who are without the opportunity to go to school, an average of 1 in every 11 children in the world,” explained the catalogue.

Artwork featuring Gerard Pique was also auctioned off with a portrait of the centre-back by Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli raising €32,500.

Portrait of Gerard Piqué as Apollo del Belvedere, Francesco Vezzoli. Photo: Sotheby´s 

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