A semi-naked streaker who ran onto the pitch during the World Cup final in Brazil has turned out to be Russian-born comedian Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, who briefly interrupted the game to try and kiss a German player in one of his trademark public pranks.
The 22-year-old Russian-U.S. comedian, who is better known by his online username VitalyzdTV, posted on his Instagram account photos of himself running onto the pitch during Sunday's final between Germany and Argentina.
Zdorovetskiy, who had the words "natural born prankster" written on his chest, tried to kiss German defender Benedikt Howedes before he was chased away and eventually caught by security guards.
Television viewers were unable to see the episode because broadcasters switched to a shot of the nearby statue of Christ the Redeemer, though fans inside the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro managed to capture the moment in videos uploaded to YouTube.
The stunt took place during the second half of the match with the score stood at 0-0. Germany went on to win the game 1-0 with a strike deep in extra-time by Mario Gotze, who was on as an 88th minute substitute for striker Miroslav Klose.
In recording victory over the Argentinians, Germany became the first ever European side to lift the trophy in Latin America.
Zdorovetskiy, who was born in the northern Russian city of Murmansk, has found internet fame as a prankster — with more than 6 million users subscribing to his YouTube account and more than 640 million views of his videos.
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