An incident happened in the match between Paraguay and Argentina, with Antonio Sarabia spitting on Lionel Messi’s back.
This episode was not thrown away easily by the Argentinian star Lionel Messi, who commented about it after the game. Messi entered the pitch replacing Julian Alvarez in the 52nd and was spat by ex-Barcelona player Sarabia.
The incident happened in the 85th minute with the referee who did not see it. The Torino player said after the game that it was not intentional and the salivary secretions did not touch the player.
"EN LA IMAGEN DE ATRÁS PARECE COMO QUE LO ESCUPO PERO NADA QUE VER"
— TyC Sports (@TyCSports) October 13, 2023
Sanabria y su declaración sobre el cruce con Leo Messi en Argentina – Paraguay.
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“I was looking at the image. It looks like I spit it out, but no, nothing to see. It was far away. Nothing happened with Messi. It looks like I spit on him, but nothing to do with it, it was far away. I totally deny it,”-said Sanabria on TyC Sports.
Messi reacted by also saying he did not see it coming:
“The truth is that I didn’t see it. They told me in the locker room that one of them had spit on me. The truth is I don’t even know who this guy is. I didn’t see him. They only told me. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it because he’s going to be talked about everywhere and it’s worse. It’s going to become known, so it’s better to leave it there.”
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Messi’s game
Messi spoke about his game and his performance on the pitch.
“I am happy to be able to add minutes and to be able to play with the National Team. I feel good, I was able to add training sessions and minutes, I had played very little in my club, but today I played again and little by little I felt good. It is beautiful every time we play at home. I am also happy with the way the match turned out”.
The player is not passing his best moment at Inter Miami who are out of the playoffs of the MLS and he is surrounded by the rumors of a possible transfer in Saudi Arabia.
He is thinking of playing another major competition with Argentina as the FIFA World Cup in 2026 seems quite far for the star. But nothing is impossible as the coach is conserving the player as much as possible.
The player will continue to be part of the COMNEBOL qualifiers and will try to give his best for his country and help them qualify for the next World Cup.