Saúl Canelo Álvarez may be a great boxer but he doesn’t know a thing about soccer. Álvarez started a self-interpreted Twitter war against Argentina and Lionel Messi after believing Messi “kicked” the Mexican national team jersey after their group stage match at the FIFA World Cup.
Sergio Agüero, former Argentina and Manchester City striker, took to the platform and stated to Canelo that it’s a common practice for kits to be on the floor after matches. Not satisfied with that answer the boxer continued to answer tweets and even retweeted a doctored photograph believing it was Messi’s social networks.
Even Mexican national team star Andrés Guardado came to the aid of the Argentine, now the pound of pound great has had to issue an apology for a completely mistimed and misunderstood “fight” with Lionel Messi.
Saúl Canelo Álvarez issues apology to Lionel Messi
Saúl Canelo Álvarez received huge public backlash from fans all around the world, including Mexican fans for his “ignorance” and lack of soccer knowledge. Many fans took the time to inform Canelo about Messi’s character and many sports influencers took to social media to tell Canelo he has poorly tried to show nationalism by throwing mud on one of soccer’s biggest class acts.
Canelo tweeted, “These last few days I got carried away by the passion and love I feel for my country and made comments that were out of place for which I want to apologize to Messi and the people of Argentina. Every day we learn something new and this time it was my turn. I wish both teams much success in their matches today and here we will continue supporting Mexico until the end.”
More confusing by Canelo’s original statement was what kind of national pride was he trying to show? Even the least knowledgeable soccer fan knows of the respect Messi has for his rivals and other cultures. If Canelo wanted to jump on the World Cup bandwagon, it was poorly executed.