As the Qatar World Cup gets closer, the excitement levels in India have reached fever pitch.

In the tiny village of Pullavoor in Kozhikode district, Argentina fans caused a social media storm by putting up a 30-foot-tall (9.1m) cut-out of striker Lionel Messi in the middle of the Cherupuzha River in Kurungattu Kadavu district.

But fans of Brazil superstar Neymar and Portuguese talisman Cristiano Ronaldo were not about to allow their heroes to be overlooked.

So they erected even taller (reportedly 50ft/15.2m) cutouts of their favourite players, to stand over the now not-so-giant Messi.

Surprised by the excited response in Kerala to the World Cup in Qatar, world governing body FIFA tweeted a photograph of the giant cut-outs from an official FIFA Twitter account.

As the Qatar World Cup gets closer, the excitement levels in India have reached a fever pitch. In the tiny village of Pullavoor (Kozhikode district), Argentina fans caused a social media storm by putting up a 30-foot-tall cut-out of Messi right in the middle of the Kurungattu Kadavu district. Kerala, known for its love for the beautiful game, has upped the ante this time around when giant cutouts of Brazil superstar Neymar, Portuguese talisman Cristiano Ronaldo, and Argentina’s magician Lionel Messi popped up on a local river ahead of the tournament.

It was a local supporters group of Argentina that acted first by bringing up a 30 feet cut-out of its talisman Lionel Messi. As a response to the 30-ft Messi cutout installed by Argentina fans in Pullavoor, Brazil fans put out a 40-ft Neymar cut-out.

Surprised by the overwhelming response in Kerala to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the football’s world governing body has tweeted a photograph of the giant cut-outs in its official Twitter handles.