Spotted! Bizarre Antonelli doppleganger mix-up on live TV

14:37, 08 Jun

Updated: 15:17, 08 Jun

byTobia Elia

During the final of the Italian basketball championship between Olimpia Milano and Virtus Bologna, the broadcast shockingly focused on someone else instead of Kimi Antonelli for the entire game.

In the world of sports, it has become quite common to see athletes from different disciplines attending some of the biggest sporting events, basketball included, of course.

However, what happened in Italy during the final (second leg) for the title between Virtus Bologna and Olimpia Milano was shocking and immediately sparked hilarity among social media users.

Throughout the entire game, the Eurosport and DAZN broadcast team, convinced they had captured Kimi Antonelli (a native of Bologna), were actually showing a different person, albeit someone with some similar facial features.

The person shown on camera was actually a young man from Ancona named Alessandro Luini, 28 years old, an amateur basketball player, ten years older than the Mercedes driver, who made his Formula 1 debut just this year.

What made the situation even more amusing was that Antonelli is just a little over 1.70 meters tall, while Luini boasts an impressive height of 195 cm.

The fake Antonelli caught on camera

''You’re Kimi Antonelli, the new Italian Formula One sensation, and last night you decided to go watch Virtus-Milano'', La Giornata Tipo ironically reported in an Instagram post.

''After all, you’re from Bologna and basketball runs in your blood… But then you think twice. You don’t actually drive a Formula One car. In fact, your only ride is a three-door Punto, and to make things worse, its inspection is expired''.

''Also, you’re not 1.72 meters tall but 1.95, not 18 years old but 28, followed on social media by about a thousand friends and family—not 3 million fans—and most importantly, your name isn’t Kimi Antonelli''.

Luini himself took the mix-up in good spirits, commenting on the post: "Whenever you want, I'll take you for a ride, though it'll have to be in a Fiat Idea."