Maluma rooting for Lionel Messi at World Cup: ‘He deserves it’

Colombian sensation Maluma is repping his South American pride in this year’s World Cup: He’s rooting for Argentina — and, in particular, the team’s captain — all the way.

“I’m close to Lionel Messi … We’re friends,” Maluma told Billboard about the 35-year-old soccer superstar, whose team advanced to Sunday’s final with a victory over Croatia on Tuesday. “And he really deserves to win the World Cup. For me, he’s one of the greatest soccer players in the history [of the sport] … And the whole Argentina team, they deserve also taking the World Cup.”

Maluma, 28, has no qualms about playing favorites despite the fact that his World Cup anthem “Tukoh Taka” — also featuring Queens rapper Nicki Minaj and Lebanese singer Myriam Fares — has been uniting nations under one groove for this year’s event.

“ ‘Tukoh Taka’ came to my life in a beautiful moment,” said Maluma, who performed the song last month during the FIFA Fan Festival to celebrate the World Cup. “I really wanted to go to Qatar, man. I really wanted to represent my culture because you know that Colombia, the Colombian soccer team, we couldn’t make it to the World Cup. So for me, it was, like, very important to go there and create this impact because my team couldn’t make it.” 

Maluma also performed “Tukoh Taka” in a medley with his No. 1 Latin hit “Junio” on Tuesday night’s finale of “The Voice.” “It’s just still growing like crazy. Numbers are blowing up like crazy,” he said of the track’s global streams and airplay. “It’s a big, big, big song.”

It all continues a big year for Maluma that began with him making his big-screen debut opposite Jennifer Lopez in “Mary Me” and continued with him launching his own fashion line, Royalty by Maluma, as well as his own brand of mezcal, Contraluz. Plus, the star served as a headliner of the first LA3C Festival in Los Angeles last weekend.

“I’m really enjoying this moment in my life and my career,” he said.