EL CLÁSICO
Shakira photo goes viral: did she predict Real Madrid’s 4-0 win over Barcelona?
Following Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey thrashing of Barça, fans of Los Blancos have taken to social media to share a particularly striking image of Shakira.
Real Madrid enjoyed a historic night at the Camp Nou on Wednesday, beating Barcelona 4-0 to qualify for the Copa del Rey final - the first time Los Blancos had scored four goals away to their arch rivals since 1963.
Led by hat-trick hero Karim Benzema, Madrid secured a thumping victory that has left fans of the Spanish-capital club in raptures - as is evidenced by the flood of joyful reactions that Madridistas have been busy posting on social media in the hours since the final whistle in Catalonia.
Among the messages, memes, photos and videos published on platforms such as Twitter, what has been noticeable is the recurring presence of a woman who has been in the headlines rather a lot of late, and who, until recently, lived in the city where Madrid claimed their famous win.
Shakira’s ‘four-zero’ photo takes social media by storm
Social media has been awash with a photograph of Colombian pop star Shakira, in which she can be seen holding up four fingers in one hand, and creating a ‘zero’ with the other.
Some users have posted the image in its original format, while others have flipped it around to reflect Madrid’s status as the away team on the night. Either way, the intention is clear: to taunt Barça over the result at the Camp Nou, using an image whose effect is amplified by the ongoing acrimony surrounding Shakira’s breakup with legendary former Blaugrana defender Gerard Piqué.
No, Shakira didn’t predict Barça’s Clásico catastrophe
Since the photo began doing the rounds, some users have claimed that it shows the singer successfully predicting the scoreline of Wednesday’s Copa clash. This is not the case: the image is six years old.
Shakira, who is poised to move to Miami after confirming on Sunday that she is leaving Spain, posted the photo to mark her 40th birthday back on 2 February 2017.
Curiously, Barcelona actually were on the end of a 4-0 defeat just days after the snap was taken. On 14 February, in what was dubbed the ‘Valentine’s Day Massacre’, the Catalans suffered a first-leg thrashing away to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last 16.
However, in one of European soccer’s most memorable comebacks, Barça then progressed to the quarter-finals by responding with a 6-1 victory in the second leg in Spain.