Foul-mouthed Messi banned

LIONEL MESSI was banned from Argentina’s World Cup qualifier away at Bolivia today, with FIFA announcing the news less than six hours before kick-off yesterday.

Argentina must now contend with the absence of their best player against Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela.

Messi has been retrospectively punished for insults aimed at – and comments about the mother of - Brazilian assistant referee Emerson de Carvalho during Argentina’s 1-0 win over Chile last week.

The Barcelona forward was caught on video invoking “the c*** of (Silva’s) mother” as he raged against an officiating decision. Match referee Sandro Ricci did not include the incident in his report but Fifa confirmed they were investigating regardless after being made aware of the footage.

Messi would later refuse to shake the official’s hand and Ricci denied hearing anything.

“I didn’t hear any offensive language from Lionel Messi or anyone else towards myself,” he said.

“If I heard any offensive words, I would have acted according to the rules of the game.”

Messi will now not feature in Argentina’s qualification efforts until their final fixture against Ecuador.

He was also fined €9,350 (RM10,136), with FIFA saying: “This decision is in line with the FIFA Disciplinary Committee’s previous rulings in similar cases.”

“We are going to appeal,” said Armando Perez, president of the Argentine FA’s interim board.

He acknowledged that Messi “made a mistake by insulting” the linesman, but argued FIFA’s sanction was proportionate.

“This is more political than anything else,” he said. – AFP/ The Independent that dis-