Matchday 3 of the Qatar 2022 World Cup had multiple tense endings. This time it wasn’t an exception with Argentina and Poland trying to reach the round of 16. It was a high-profile game since their captains are Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski.
This sort of rivalry started when the Polish striker talked about the Ballon d’Or the Argentinian received in 2021. Both stars were neck to neck in that race, but Messi ended up getting the trophy. Even though he said Lewandowski should have won it in 2020, the former Bayern player didn’t like not winning it that year.
In an unexpected turn of events, Lewandowski moved to Barcelona last summer. That added some spice given Messi’s history in that club. Therefore, it isn’t surprising that a lot of people found at least interesting what happened in this occasion.
Did Lionel Messi avoid Robert Lewandowski?
The match was tense for Argentina taking into account a loss was going to eliminate them from the Qatar 2022 World Cup. A tie was going to leave their future in someone else’s hands, so they had to win. They could do it with much effort in a 2-0 victory that will make them play vs Australia.
In end of the game Messi dribbled past Lewandowski in the middle of the field. The Polish fouled him and offered his apologies, but they didn’t shake their hands. The Argentinian didn’t even look at the striker, creating a curious image. Though the reason behind that reaction may not be something personal going on between them.
Earlier in the match Argentina had the opportunity to open the score with a penalty kicked by Messi. That finished in a save by Wojciech Szczesny. When the game ended both captains shook their hands, so that interaction may have just been because of all the tension he had been accumulating after that miss.