Referee Admits Favouring Lionel Messi During Major Football Tournament in Exchange for His Jersey
Cristiano Ronaldo fans will be livid after a former referee has admitted to favouring Lionel Messi during a major tournament after the Argentine agreed to give him his match shirt.
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The Deal for Messi’s Jersey
The incident happened during the 2007 Copa America semifinal between Argentina and Mexico, a game that saw Messi, Gabriel Heinze, and Juan Roman Riquelme all score in a commanding 3-0 victory for Argentina, securing their place in the final.
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Referee Admits Favouring Lionel Messi During Major Football Tournament
But in a shocking revelation, former referee Carlos Chandia admitted that Messi could have easily been shown a yellow card for a handball during the match—an action that would have seen him suspended for the final against Brazil due to an accumulation of yellow cards. Instead, Chandia cut the Argentine star a deal.
As Chandia told ESPN’s FShow,
“Out of nowhere, Messi lifts a ball and touches it with his hand, but in the middle of the pitch. There was no goal-scoring chance for the Mexican team or anything like that. So, I told him: ‘This is a yellow card, but it will cost you your jersey,’ and I didn’t show him the yellow card. There were two-and-a-half minutes left, and the score was 3-0. Showing him a yellow card would would have taken away his chance of playing in the Copa America final.”
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Messi’s Secretive Shirt Exchange
Worried that their deal might be exposed, Chandia refused Messi’s attempt to hand over the jersey on the field. Instead, Messi left the shirt for him in the dressing room after the match.
“He gave me the shirt in the dressing room afterwards. In fact, he wanted to take it off on the pitch and I told him: ‘No, no, no, no; take it to the dressing room’. And he came to the dressing room with the jersey and left it there for me,” he added.
Despite avoiding suspension, the 2007 Copa America final ended in heartbreak for Messi and Argentina, as Brazil triumphed 3-0 with goals from Julio Baptista, Dani Alves, and an own goal by Roberto Ayala.
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The post Referee Admits Favouring Lionel Messi During Major Football Tournament in Exchange for His Jersey appeared first on iHarare News.
