Claim: A Facebook page, Red Devils Arena, posted a photo of Chelsea superstar Alejandro Garnacho wearing a Portuguese jersey during an Argentina match.
Verdict: False! DUBAWA’s forensic checks showed that the image is a real photo that has been digitally altered (photoshopped), not an authentic image of Garnacho in a Portugal jersey. The claim is also not supported by any credible news agency.
Full Text
Chelsea forward Alejandro Garnacho has never hidden his admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo, a devotion that shaped his formative years at Manchester United and continues to influence his playing style. However, that same admiration is now at the centre of speculation over his omission from Argentina’s 2026 World Cup squad.
Garnacho, 21, idolised Ronaldo from a young age, often replicating the Portuguese star’s famous “Siuuu” celebration and citing him as a role model. His time at Manchester United allowed him to train alongside Ronaldo during the 2022–23 season, an experience he described as transformative.
However, a Facebook page, Red Devils Arena, shared a viral photo of Garnacho wearing a Portuguese jersey during an Argentina match in the ongoing World Cup (archived).
Part of the claim reads: “Alejandro Garnacho was photographed in the stands at Argentina’s World Cup Round of 32 match against Austria wearing a Portugal jersey, and the images quickly went viral on social media. The photos appear to be genuine rather than AI-generated or edited.”
DUBAWA decided to fact-check the claim due to its potential to mislead the public.
Verification
DUBAWA conducted a Google keyword search and found that the claim was not supported by credible news agencies like BBC Sport, Sky Sports News, and MARCA.
We then verified the claim on Garnacho’s official Instagram account and found no evidence to support the claim. We also subjected the photo to an AI image detector, ZeroGPT, to verify its authenticity. But the results showed a 52% likelihood of digital manipulation. Additionally, aiornot.com showed a 24% likelihood of digital manipulation.
The two AI-detection tools returned low-to-moderate AI-likelihood scores (52% and 24%), suggesting the image is not fully AI-generated. To determine whether it had instead been manually edited, DUBAWA ran the photo through JPEGsnoop, a forensic tool that analyses compression artefacts.
It found the image file structure to be consistent with a real photograph that had subsequently been edited, indicating the photo is authentic in origin but has been digitally altered to insert the Portugal jersey.
Screenshot of the results.
Screenshot of the results of the likelihood of digital manipulation/source: aiornot.com
Screenshot of the results/Source: JPEGsnoop
Finally, we observed that some versions of the hoax claimed he was sitting right next to veteran player Ángel Di María in the luxury boxes.
In reality, no official FIFA matchday broadcast or accredited photojournalist captured any such moment.
Conclusion
The viral photo of Garnacho wearing a Portuguese jersey has been photoshopped. There’s no official FIFA account confirming he even attended the Argentina-Austria match.