Reportedly some Bangladeshi fans of football great Lionel Messi had to pay a price for celebrating the birthday of the Argentine as they were fined for breaching the Covid-19 lockdown. As Barcelona striker Lionel Messi turned 33, 15 Bangladeshi men were found to be enjoying the occasion at a cafe in the indian border town of Damurhuda. However, after magistrates raided the cafe, the fans were fined for flouting the lockdown.
The men aged between 17 and 32 were fined 100 taka (roughly US$1.15) each, said magistrate Firaz Hossain whereas the cafe was fined US$70. "They flouted social distancing rules and went out in the evening. They breached our lockdown order," Hossain was quoted as saying by AFP. So far, bangladesh has recorded over 122,000 Covid-19 cases and 1,582 deaths.
Talking of Messi, the football giant wasn’t able to score his milestone 700th career goal for club and country when Barcelona earned a hard-fought 1-0 win against Athletic Bilbao on tuesday to put the pressure back on Real Madrid in the Spanish league. Messi came close twice with shots that just missed the target late in the second half. Barcelona was coming off a 0-0 draw at Sevilla, a result that allowed Madrid to take over the lead for the first time since the league resumed after the pandemic break.
