Brazilian football star's Kurdish doppelganger

DUHOK, Kurdistan Region - A man in the Kurdistan Region is well-known Brazilian football player Casemiro’s doppelganger. 

Warvin Ismael, a 37-year-old blacksmith from Duhok looks similar to Carlos Henrique Casimiro who plays as a defensive midfielder for Premier League club Manchester United and the Brazil national team.

It all started right after Casemiro made international headlines when joining the English club on August 19. A screengrab of Ismael taken from an undated interview conducted by local Kurdish TV GAV in Duhok several years ago went viral across social media platforms, showing the resemblance. 

"A few years ago, around 2012 and 2013, a friend of mine made a photo collage of me and that player and he sent it to me saying that I really looked like him. After he joined Real Madrid [in 2013], then the people of Duhok started to take photographs with me in the streets and public places. This thing proved that there was really a likeness between us," Ismael told Rudaw's Naif Ramadhan on Monday.

"Since my photographs have gone viral, I get stopped by people to take photos with me, whether I am alone or with my family, though I do not really like it. As soon as they see me, they think I am the Casemiro look-alike," he added.

Casemiro, a five-time Champions League winner with Spanish Real Madrid, joined Man United in a deal worth £70m for four years.