Fans have slammed Soccer Aid’s attempted recreation of the iconic Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi chess photo.

Football legends Messi and Ronaldo broke the internet when they came together for a Louis Vuitton advertisement campaign in 2022. With 13 Ballon d’Ors between them, the two icons were photographed playing chess on an LV suitcase, quickly becoming one of the most popular photos ever uploaded on the platform with 42million likes accumulated on the original post alone.

Now Soccer Aid, an annual British charity football match, has paid homage to the legendary picture ahead of the UNICEF-organised game on June 9. Soccer Aid’s official X account posted an AI-created photo, which showed two of its participants - YouTubers Miniminter and Theo Baker - playing chess against each other in similar fashion.

The caption read: “THIS is football heritage,” as the tweet went on to receive over three million views on the platform.

But it failed to have the desired impact, as fans responded with confusion at who the pair actually were. And others were simply outraged as they pointed out the charity event’s decline over the years.

One user mockingly wrote: “I thought Soccer Aid was supposed to have celebrities?,” while another wrote: “Who are these people?!”

A third vented: “There used to be proper celebrities, now it's just YouTubers,” while a fourth pointed out: “Soccer Aid going to s*** these days.”

A fifth added: “I need Aid from just seeing this,” while another pleaded: “Who the hell are these?”

Others were in agreement, fuming: “This is genuinely cringeworthy,” and: “The decline of Soccer Aid is massive.”

Miniminter, otherwise known as Simon, is a famed member of the Sidemen, who have amassed billions of YouTube views over the years. They have 21million subscribers on the platform, while Miniminter himself has 160,000 X followers and 6.3million on Instagram.

Theo Baker, meanwhile, is known for his football videos and vlogs. The English content creator has 1.4million YouTube subscribers and half a million followers on Instagram.