mo-salah.png
Getty Images

Mohamed Salah has become one of the biggest soccer stars in the world, so naturally a statue was crafted in his likeness in his homeland of Egypt. With Salah leading the way, Egypt made its first World Cup in 28 years in 2018. However, once the statue was unveiled, it was clear that something was wrong.

Very, very wrong.

If this isn't as bad as the Ronaldo atrocity, it's close. It's like the sculptor did the head first and realized there wasn't enough material, which is an honest mistake. In the words of John Mulaney, "We've all made a 'Happy Birthday' sign."

To the artist, however, it's not what you'd call an acceptable mistake.

"I welcome all criticisms this statue received; this is natural because an artist is subjected to a number of tastes but I am personally not happy with the statue's final product," said sculptor Mai Abdel Allah, per CNN.

That's fair, and it's good that Abdel Allah is self-aware, because the statue received plenty of criticism -- not all of it constructive.

Impressively, the statue simultaneously has a childlike freedom to it while also looking like the weight of the world is crushing it. It seems like Abdel Allah wants to take another crack at it, and it's hard to blame her. This one doesn't look like it came out as planned. With that being said, after the Ronaldo debacle, maybe the takeaway should be that sculpting soccer stars is really difficult.