A 90-year-old survivor of Oct. 7 said the reason why they spared her, was due to the fact that she mentioned famous soccer player Lionel Messi’s name, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.
Esther Cunio, the Argentinian grandmother living in Israel, mentioned in an upcoming Spanish documentary called “Voces del 7 de octubre — Latino Stories of Survival” that she was questioned about her relatives’ but managed to skillfully redirect the conversation to soccer, the outlet reported.
Cunio said one of them asked what Argentina was, to which she responded by asking him if he was a soccer fan and knew about Messi, according to the outlet. “Then I tell him: I come from where Messi comes from. And he replies ‘Messi? I like Messi.’ And he grabbed my arm, gave me the revolver, the rifle, put his hand on me and they took a picture of us,” Cunio said.
Lionel Messi is one of the greatest soccer players in the world and is followed by millions of fans. Moreover, recently his popularity also helped an old lady, which shocked the soccer community.
This news quickly went viral as no one imagined that by just taking Lionel Messi’s name the situation would completely turn around. Not only that, the Hamas gunman even clicked a picture with the old woman in a show of support for being a Messi fan.
Ester Cunio opens up on how Lionel Messi unknowingly saved her life. When gunmen confronted Ester and demanded to know where her family was, she said that she was of Argentine descent and that she loved soccer, especially Messi, which caused her attacker to change dramatically.
In an open discussion about her experience with Fuente Latina (via Marca), Ester stated: “I told him that I speak in Argentine, in Spanish. I didn’t understand his language. The Arab language, and I speak poor Hebrew. I speak Argentinean Spanish, so he asks what Argentina is.
Then I tell him, ‘do you watch football?’ He said he liked it and I told him I am from Messi’s country. He was surprised and told me he loves Messi. He put his arm on my shoulder, gave me his gun, he made me do the peace sign and they snapped the picture.”
Even though Ester’s story has received a lot of attention, Messi has not publicly acknowledged that he knew about the incident. However, it also emphasizes how his name has a significant impact that extends well beyond the world of sports, acting as a beacon of hope and support during the most difficult of times.
It remains to be seen what happens next with this story, whether Messi reaches out to Alex in the coming days remains unclear. Messi has been a hero to such kind of people and their families in many ways.