An Argentine man kidnapped in Nigeria claims he owes his life to Barcelona forward Lionel Messi.

Santiago Lopez Menendez, a 28-year-old agricultural engineer who has been working in Nigeria since last year, planting soya and corn crops close to Kontagora in the north-west Nigeria, said name-dropping his famous compatriot calmed his violent aggressors who held him captive for three days.

According to Goal reportage, He was kidnapped earlier this week and beaten violently by his captors, who hardly spoke any English and thought he was north American. Out of desperation, Menendez tried to tell them he was Argentine and he was eventually able to calm down his aggressors with repeated cries of “Messi, Messi, Messi”.

Held captive for three days, the engineer was eventually released after the company who employs him paid an undisclosed ransom to the kidnappers.

Back in Argentina, his brother Jorge spoke to Clarin and said: “‘Tell them I am grateful to Messi’, he told me. ‘Naming him is what saved me.'”

Menendez is now safe and will return to his homeland in the next few hours.