Lionel Messi Officially Becomes The Bad Boy Of Futbol, Gets Suspended For Being Mean To A Ref
CNN – Argentina and Barcelona star Lionel Messi has been hit with a four-game ban by football’s governing body FIFA and fined $10,000 after verbally abusing a match official while on international duty.The 29-year-old learned of his fate just hours before his country’s crucial qualifying clash with Bolivia. He will also miss upcoming games against Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela.
Messi became animated at the end of Argentina’s 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Chile on March 24 — a game settled by the forward’s first-half penalty. After being flagged for a foul, he waved his arms and sent a volley of verbal abuse at the referee’s assistant.
Yikes. I mean, you just never want to see that in the beautiful game. Lionel Messi. The greatest soccer player in the world. Waving his arms and sending a volley of verbal abuse toward a referee’s assistant. Can you even imagine being the official in this situation? One moment you think you’re calling a good, clean game. The next moment you’re getting viciously attacked by a volley of verbal abuse. Just imagine how hurt your feelings have to be after an altercation like that. Truly devastating and to see it come from one of the best players in the world? For shame. Luckily, however, FIFA came down heavy and slapped his heinie with a 4-game suspension. You just can’t let guys running around out there hurling verbal assaults left and right. It’s 2017, people. I thought we were beyond this.
Quick sidenote: Love the direction Messi has been heading in lately. People automatically write him off as a little sissy boy since he plays soccer instead of contact foot-based sports. So what does he go out and do? Gets a shit ton of tattoos and starts calling the refs names. Just like that, he became the baddest hombre in soccer since Zinedine Zidane.
Also–makes you think.
