A statue in Buenos Aires of Barcelona and Argentina star Lionel Messi has been vandalised, with the head, torso and arms all being removed leaving only the legs and a football on display.

The statue was installed in late June, shortly after Argentina and Messi lost the final of the Copa América against Chile. The city government said it is working to reconstruct the statue.

The Messi statue is among several others in the area, all of them dedicated to Argentinian sports stars. They include a figure of the basketball player Manu Ginobili, those of the tennis players Gabriela Sabatini and Guillermo Vilas, the Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio, and the hockey player Luciana Aymar.

Vandals also stole the racket from Sabatini’s statue in 2014.