Lionel Messi: ‘Little Saint’ bashed for on-field brawl

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Lionel Messi is under fire from former PSG player Jerome Rothen and Brazilian player Rodrygo De Paul’s father. This is due to ‘Little Saint’ Messi’s behaviour during a FIFA World Cup qualifier match that was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Before the first pass was executed at the venue, a serious fight had broken out between Argentina’s and Brazil’s fans, which led to the arrival of both the police and ambulance services.

The cause of the disarray was that Argentina’s fans started booing while Brazil’s national anthem was being sung. This disrespectful behaviour moved the home fans to start throwing seats at them, stirring a full-fledged dangerous situation on both sides of the stands.

This had prompted Lionel Messi to lead his team off the pitch, possibly to keep them safe till order was restored in the atmosphere. But Brazilian player Rodrygo De Paul found fault with this action and criticised the Ballon d’Or winner and the Argentine team for it, calling the behaviour cowardice.

Messi reportedly replied, ‘We are the world champions; how are we cowards? Watch your mouth.’

This reply became the straw that broke the camel’s back to Jerome Rothen, who has been a critic of Messi’s allegedly growing misbehaviour since winning the World Cup with Argentina in 2022.

Even De Paul’s father had posted on Instagram, saying, ‘Is anyone surprised? The little saint who never causes trouble with anyone’

But Rothen’s reaction was longer.

‘When it comes to their [Argentina’s] behaviour, they are the first to attack others,’ said Rothen. ‘Starting with the star of this team, Leo Messi,

‘Now that he is a world champion and has had a good rest ahead of the World Cup since two years ago at PSG, He used to have the image of a sweet guy, but now he has changed because his true personality is coming out and he got caught. Today, you can’t even touch him anymore.

‘Only when he takes a hit does he make the same comment he made to Rodrygo when he said, ‘Hey, I’m a world champion’. The team reflects an image of Argentines. Argentine nationality is like that and you feel superior because of someone else. They could have more class.’

News of Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘bad’ actions has been spreading, while Messi was seen as a good person who is a nice role model.