They were named after famous international players to honor that four World Cup group games were played in the Russian city where they were built.
When he was a young cub with health problems, he was sold to the Saransk Zoo.
Mariya and Aleksandr Dmitriev, a Russian couple, were kind enough to take in the big cat and give him a good home.
They saw him at the Saransk Zoo in Penza and fell so deeply in love with him.
Then, they decided to buy him and make him their own.
But it wasn’t easy to control Messi, a big cat. So, they found a place for him to go to school to learn how to behave.
Even though the couple lives in a small apartment with only one bedroom, they have made room for Messi and done their best to take care of their big pet.
Some people don’t like it when people bring wild animals into their homes because they are dangerous and should live in a wildlife reserve.
But the couple doesn’t think they can let him go because he’s never lived alone in the wild and isn’t as strong as other wild animals.
With his funny videos on YouTube and cute pictures on Instagram, he is already a big deal on social media.
The Messi cat’s Instagram account, @I am puma, has more than 660k followers, and his YouTube channel has more than 187k subscribers.
Watch the video below to see the cute Messi cat.
