The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner is painted as one of football's 'nice guys', but sometimes that mask slips, and his fiery ...
The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner is painted as one of football's 'nice guys', but sometimes that mask slips, and his fiery temper rears its head
When most people think of Lionel Messi, they picture him weaving his way past multiple defenders effortlessly, and conjuring up the kind of goals that other mere mortals can only dream of. He does it all with an unassuming smile on his face, and exudes a natural humility that has endeared him to millions of fans around the world.
Messi is a footballing god who will probably be remembered as the greatest player of all time when he eventually hangs up his boots. But it's impossible to get to that level without being a ferocious competitor. The Argentine magician will do whatever it takes to win, even if that means embracing his dark side. He is a hero to so many, but he's never been afraid to turn villain in the midst of battle.
That mean streak has mostly come out on the international stage, when Messi carries the weight of an entire nation's expectations on his shoulders as Argentina's captain and undisputed talisman. He doesn't have the most intimidating frame or facial features, but he never backs down from a fight.
Emiliano Martinez called Messi a "bad boy" after Argentina's run to glory at the 2022 World Cup, which is a fitting label. The Inter Miami superstar is certainly not always the angelic figure the media perceives him as, and GOAL is here to run down his most shocking outbursts in the famous blue and white of the Albiceleste...
Disastrous debut
At just 18-years-old, Messi was given his first taste of international football for Argentina in a friendly clash against Hungary. By the beginning of the 2005-06 season, the diminutive forward was already being tipped for greatness at Barcelona, and all of the fans packed into the Ferenc Puskas Stadium were eager to see if he'd live up to the hype.
Messi looked to be brimming with energy when coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute, and in his first meaningful contribution to the game, he picked the ball up just outside the centre-circle and turned away from his marker in trademark fashion.
Hungary full-back Vilmos Vanczak didn't take kindly to being embarrassed by a teenager, though, as he stopped Messi in his tracks with a blatant shirt-pull. And by either instinct or pure petulance, Messi reacted by swinging an arm back in his face as the referee blew for the foul.
After barely two minutes on the pitch, Messi was shown a red card, and couldn't hold back the tears as he made his way to the tunnel. It might have been a slightly harsh decision by the referee, but Argentina's new wonderkid had let his temper get the best of him - and it wouldn't be the last time.
'He came on to make fun of us'
Argentina breezed to a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Bolivia at the 2016 Copa America to finish top of their group with three wins out of three. Messi was named on the bench as the Albiceleste sought to keep their star man's legs fresh for the knockout stages, but was still given a second-half cameo when his team were already three goals up.
It didn't take long for Messi to start making an impact with his dribbling skills and ingenious passing, with Jhasmani Campos among the Bolivia players to be penalised while trying to halt his momentum. Messi took exception to Campos' rough challenge and immediately squared up to him after getting to his feet. The former Barcelona star also pushed his head into his opponent before being pulled away by his team-mates.
The referee gave Campos a yellow card but Messi escaped unpunished, much to the Bolivia winger's frustration. "He came on to make fun of us, a player of his talent should not be doing what he did," Campos told GOAL after the game. "He carried out some unnecessary moves to make fun of my team-mates and that is not on. But it's over, he is the best player in the world and Argentina are a great team, and I hope they do really well."
'Pretends to be nice, but really he's the opposite'
The 2018 World Cup was something of a nightmare for Argentina, who exited at the hands of eventual winners France in the last 16. They were fortunate to even get out of their group, as they needed a narrow win over Nigeria in their third match following a 3-0 defeat against Croatia and a 1-1 draw with Iceland.
Messi's frustrations boiled over in the Croatia game as he was involved in an altercation with Ivan Strinic midway through the second half, when Argentina were still only a goal down. Both men were floored after a coming together, but Messi angrily pushed Strinic's leg away as he got to his feet, right in front of the referee.
Once again, Messi walked away unpunished. Despite Croatia's victory, Strinic couldn't let it lie and also accused the Argentina star of disrespecting one of his team-mates from Barcelona. Strinic told reporters when quizzed on his clash with Messi: "He has this image where he pretends to be nice and humble, but he’s totally the opposite. Not only did he hit me, but when [Ivan] Rakitic, his friend, was down injured, he refused to kick the ball out despite being the captain."
Messi vs 'The Pitbull'
The Argentina squad picked up bronze medals at the 2019 Copa America after beating Chile in a third-place play-off, but the contest was overshadowed by an ugly first-half incident. Messi went to-to-toe with Gary 'The Pitbull' Medel after trying and failing to keep an overhit pass from running out of play. Medel, who had a reputation as one of the toughest men in South American football, successfully put his body in front of Messi, and the Argentine gave him a little push once he realised he wasn't going to reach the ball.
Medel then flew at Messi and a chest-barging match began. Both men gave as good as they got before the referee rushed over the break them up and give them their marching orders. It was the first time that Messi had received a red card since his ill-fated debut for Argentina, who went on to scrape a 2-1 victory in his absence.
Messi didn't show up to the medal ceremony, and later ranted in front of the media about Argentina's semi-final loss against Brazil. "There is no doubt, the whole thing is set up for Brazil," he said. "I did not want to be part of this corruption, we shouldn't have to be part of this disrespect we suffered during the Copa America. We could have gone further but we weren't allowed into the final. Corruption, referees and all the rest stopped people from enjoying the football."
Telling Tite to 'shut up'
Messi appeared to carry his ill-feeling towards Brazil when Argentina came up against their arch-rivals in a friendly clash four months later. The game was ultimately decided by Messi's 14th-minute goal, which saw him tuck in a rebound after missing a penalty, but he made headlines for a verbal war with Selecao head coach Tite.
Throughout the first-half, Tite could be seen complaining to the referee, which eventually prompted a reaction from Messi. The Argentina captain then shushed Tite and made a hand gesture that appeared to suggest the Brazil boss had too much to say for himself.
In the end, it was Messi who had the last laugh as Argentina gained some revenge on the Selecao, but Tite confirmed what was said during their heated exchange in his post-match press conference. "I complained because he [Messi] should have been shown a yellow card and he told me to shut my mouth and I told him to shut his mouth," he said.
Accepting Cavani's fight invitation
Argentina came up against Uruguay in another international friendly a few days later, and once again Messi made headlines for his rash behaviour. Messi and Edinson Cavani were spotted sniping at each other on several occasions during the match, including when the former was fouled by Matias Vecino just before the interval. The two men traded insults on the pitch and the row continued as they made their way to the dressing rooms, at which point Uruguay were leading thanks to a Cavani goal.
Argentina would go on to earn a 2-2 draw, with Messi scoring a stoppage-time penalty to level the scores, but a transcription of his argument with Cavani soon started spreading like wildfire on social media.
As per South American outlet Ole, Cavani had asked Messi: "Do you want to fight?" The Barcelona legend then replied: "Whenever you want."
Cavani also addressed the spat in an interview with TyC Sports, saying: "It's part of football, Clasicos are like this. The truth is that it was at times a game that had friction, there were challenges and things that are part of football."
Confronting Van Gaal
Argentina's quarter-final encounter against the Netherlands at the 2022 World Cup was one of the most explosive in the history of the tournament.
Everything appeared to be going the Albiceleste's way heading towards the final 15 minutes of the game, as they led through a Nahuel Molina goal. Messi the doubled their advantage from the penalty spot, but raised more than a few eyebrows with his celebration. The wired-in forward cupped his ears in the direction of Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal, who had said before the game that he had a plan to stop Argentina's skipper.
The Netherlands then staged a remarkable fightback, with two late goals from Wout Weghorst forcing the match into extra-time, and then eventually penalties. Argentina came out on top in the shootout, and Messi then flew over to the opposition bench to rage at Van Gaal again, this time shouting: "You talk too much."
Messi was still visibly incensed when speaking to reporters, as he also took aim the general conduct of the Dutch squad after a game that saw a grand total of 18 yellow cards. "I feel disrespected by Van Gaal after his pre-game comments and some Dutch players spoke too much during the game," he said.
'What are you looking at, fool?'
Messi also spoke to TyC Sports after the Netherlands game, but briefly stopped answering questions after seeing Weghorst pass him in the background. He then snapped at the Dutch striker: "What are your looking at, fool? Gon on, get out of here."
Weghorst later claimed that Messi had snubbed his attempts to make peace after the bad-tempered last-eight fixture. “I wanted to shake his [Messi’s] hand after the match, but he smashed my hand away and didn’t want to speak with me," he explained.
Full footage of the incident then leaked which backed up Weghorst's comments, as Messi was clearly seen ignoring a handshake with him.
Messi and Argentina went on to clinch the famous trophy after a semi-final win over Croatia and thrilling showpiece triumph against France. And once the dust had settled, Messi broke his silence on his feud with the Netherlands' towering striker.
"I don't like what I did. There was a lot of tension and it came out naturally," he said. "A lot had happened with this player and two others during the match. It came out naturally."
'These young people have to learn'
Argentina went almost a year unbeaten after the World Cup, but their streak was ended by Uruguay in a 2026 qualifying encounter on November 17. Goals from Ronald Araujo and Darwin Nunez gave the visitors all three points at La Bombonera, but Messi came out to criticise the younger members of Marcelo Biesla's squad after the game.
Uruguay midfielder Manuel Ugarte reportedly accused Rodrigo De Paul of being Messi's 'bottle-feeder' and directed an obscene gesture at the Argentine midfielder in the first-half, which sparked a mass brawl between both teams.
When asked to address the incident, Messi said: "Well, these young people have to learn. They [Uruguay] have a good group of players, a good national team, but they have to learn respect from their elders because this Clasico was always intense, hard, but always with a lot of respect. So they have to learn a little."
De Paul also nearly came to blows with Mathias Olivera in the 19th minute of the game, and Messi was seen pushing his elbow into the Uruguay defender's chest and grabbing his throat after coming to the aid of his Argentine colleague.
He refused to be drawn on whether his actions were unnecessary, though. "It's normal, in this type of games, qualifiers, it's always like this with Uruguay," Messi insisted. "We knew what type of game we were going to find, it was difficult for us to play. They are intense and have physical and fast people. We did not feel comfortable."
Never call Messi a coward
Argentina got back to winning ways in their next outing, beating Brazil 1-0 at the Maracana to stay two points clear of Uruguay in the CONMEBOL World Cup quaifying table. However, the game was marred by crowd violence which caused the kick-off time to be delayed by 30 minutes, with Messi initially leading his team off the pitch as police were seen responding violently to supporters' booing the Brazilian national anthem.
When the players re-emerged, De Paul and Rodrygo were seen locked in an animated debate. Messi ran over to intervene and appeared to pull the Brazilian youngster away from De Paul while clutching the back of his neck.
According to TyC Sports, Rodygo sparked the intense debate after accusing Argentina of being "cowards" for retreating to the tunnel. Messi didn't take kindly to the jibe, and reportedly responded with fury: "We are the world champions, why are we cowards? Watch your mouth."
The Inter Miami star is now set for a few months on holiday after a physically demanding year that saw him leave Paris Saint-Germain before embarking on a new challenge at club level in the United States. The 2024 MLS season will likely start in early February, but Messi will also have one eye on Argentina's Copa America defence next summer, and it will be no surprise if he shows the darker side of his character again in a bid to lift his country to more silverware.
