Argentina's captain Lionel Messi has finally responded to Canelo Alvarez’s accusation of disrespecting the Mexican jersey, after a video of him accidentally kicking it surfaced online. Since Argentina’s win over Mexico at Qatar 2022, the fighter and several personalities, such as Kun Agüero or Andrés Guardado, has been in a back and forth over the incident.
After Argentina defeated Mexico with goals by Messi and Enzo Fernandez, Álvarez accused the PSG star of “cleaning the floor with our kit and national flag” on Twitter, and threatened him saying he hoped to not “find him” with angry and punch emojis.
Quickly Agüero, Guardado and other personalities went on Messi’s defense, explaining that Messi’s gesture was accidental. However, Canelo still took other jabs at Agüero, particularly, until he finally admitted he was wrong and apologized. Now, Messi is putting an end to the controversy, explaining his side of the story.
Lionel Messi says he 'didn’t disrespect' Mexico
After Argentina’s win over Poland to advance to the Round of 16 of the 2022 World Cup, Lionel Messi finally addressed the controversy. Talking to Argentine media TycSports, he said he wasn’t going to say sorry for the incident.
“I don’t think I have to apologize because I believe that I did not disrespect neither the people of Mexico, nor the shirt or anyone. It was a misunderstanding,” he explained. His comments come after Canelo decided to put a rest to the controversy he started.
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.”
