Germany vs Argentina World Cup 2014: Russian comedian Vitaly Zdorovetskiy streaks, kisses Benedikt Howedes, takes jail selfie

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Eric Garcia

Washington Bureau Chief

Blink, took a quick tea break, glanced at Christ the Redeemer and you would have definitely missed it.

But a Russian comedian caused far more upset to the German defence than Lionel Messi did during the World Cup Final yesterday, when he streaked onto the pitch during the second half of the game.

The notorious prankster, named Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, stripped off and blew kisses to the crowd as he ran towards several bemused looking players on the pitch with the words “natural born prankster” scrawled across his stomach.

He made a b-line towards German player Benedikt Howedes, and attempted to plant a kiss on his lips.

TV viewers were, however, unable to witness the spectacle, as cameras cut to an image of Christ the Redeemer set against an impressive golden sunset instead – a production practice usually reserved for such occasions in order to discourage it.

Zdorovetskiy was eventually Rugby-tackled to the ground and dragged off the pitch by five security guards.

He shared the pre-empted moment with his 202,000 Twitter followers, and even took a “jail selfie” after he’d completed his stunt:

Of course, not even Zdorovetskiy, infamous for his prank YouTube channel VitalyzdTV, could take the attention away from the second World Cup flasher in the stands – Rihanna.

Here’s how the Barbadian singer put her own celebratory spin on proceedings.