The darling of world football, Lionel Messi, drew antipathy from many supporters as he helped steer Argentina to the 2026 World Cup final, where they lost 1-0 in extra time to Spain on Sunday.
The reasons are diverse. Social media played a major role.
One major reason was that sentiment increasingly turned against his team, Argentina, in the tournament.
They were seen as using dirty tactics (although admirers point out their physical approach has long been a feature of the country’s football) and looking for yellow or red cards against opposition players. The post-match brawl after the final, primarily involving midfielder Leandro Paredes, added to this sentiment.
Argentina also stood accused of receiving favourable officiating decisions, ostensibly because Fifa wanted the defending champions, and in particular superstar Messi, back in the final.
Speculation was perhaps even US President Donald Trump, who has a close relationship with Argentina’s controversial President Javier Milei, was behind such influence. Milei’s controversial libertarian or right-wing policies, relationship with Trump and stance supporting Israel in the conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and Iran, resulted in many turning on Argentina.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his support for Argentina in the World Cup, also increasing sentiment against the South American country.
By contrast, Spain as a country has taken an active stance against Israel, joining SA’s genocide case at the International Court of Justice, and has incurred Trump’s wrath for refusing to allow the US to use bases in its country to attack Iran.
Spain’s star player, 19-year-old Lamine Yamal, who has an immigrant father of Moroccan-extract, has been vocal in his support for Palestine.
Defenders and diehard fans of Messi point out he has never outwardly expressed any views supporting Israel, although detractors have pointed to his ambassadorship for companies from that country (OrCam and Sirin Labs) and relative silence on the Gaza issue as reasons for criticism.
Defenders point out that Messi has been apolitical throughout his career. They say he has never expressed support for Milei or the president’s policies. They point to social media misinformation that falsely showed Messi supporting Israel.
Messi’s defenders say while it is understandable for the Argentine team to be targeted because of the country’s policies, targeting Messi as an individual for those reasons is unfair. They point out Messi could not have had any influence over the refereeing decisions that supposedly favoured Argentina, if they even were questionable in the first place.
Defenders also point out that even if Argentina are a physical and sometimes dirty team on the field, Messi has always been a notably clean player. They stress that Messi has confirmed himself as arguably the world’s greatest player ever.
After coming out of the international retirement he had announced after he helped Argentina win the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 at 35 years of age, he led his team to another final four years later. He was the 2026 tournament’s second top-scorer with eight goals. He enhanced his reputation as being comparable to Pelé and Diego Maradona, the best to have played the game, and should be remembered and respected for that.
TimesLIVE
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