SHAME ON MESSI
Star given four-game ban after rant at ref
LIONEL MESSI has been banned for four World Cup qualifying matches after a foulmouthed rant at a linesman. Messi will miss four of Argentina’s final five qualifiers after his outburst during last week’s 1-0 win over Chile.
He only discovered his fate six hours before Argentina kicked off their crucial qualifier away to Bolivia last night. The Barcelona genius and four-time Ballon D’Or winner was also given a fine of around £8,100.
Messi said ‘la concha de tu madre’, which translates to ‘ **** off, your mother’s a **** ’ — a common cursing phrase in Argentina — to Brazilian linesman Emerson Augusto do Carvalho at the end of the match after being harried and fouled by Chile’s Jean Beausejour. The official patted him on the head and tried to calm him down but Messi continued ranting.
Carvalho said later he did not understand at the time what Messi was saying. ‘I only realised he was swearing afterwards on reading the press,’ he said. The officials had not filed a complaint but revised their report to FIFA.
Argentina say they will appeal but Messi’s reputation as the boy next door, in contrast to the occasionally snarling Cristiano Ronaldo, has taken a severe dent.
Argentina team secretary Jorge Miadosqui said: ‘We are surprised at the decision. We believe that the sanction can be lowered. Messi is sad, which we all are.’
As well as missing last night’s match with Bolivia, Messi will also be absent for an away game against Luis Suarez’s Uruguay in August and home matches against Venezuela and Peru in September and October.
It is a major blow for Argentina, whose spot at next year’s tournament in Russia is far from assured. They went into the match against Chile in fifth position, outside the automatic qualification spots. Messi’s decisive penalty earned three points that took Argentina back up to third in the 10-team CONMEBOL qualification table.
Messi may have welcomed missing the game in Bolivia because it is a notoriously difficult venue. The Estadio Hernando Siles in La Paz is 12,000ft above sea level, and in 2013, Messi was sick on the pitch during a 1-1 draw.
After that match, he said: ‘It is terrible to play here at altitude, so a draw is a good result.
‘Every time you make an effort or play at high pace, you need time to recover. Some of the players had a headache and others felt dizzy, but there was nothing wrong with me.’