A controversial incident took place this morning, when Argentina received Paraguay in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. For a moment at the end of the match, it seemed that Messi was sprayed on the back by his opponent.

The person mentioned here is Antonio Sanabria. In the 84th minute, during an argument between Messi and Sanabria, cameras caught Antonio Sanabria spitting at his opponent. At that time, Messi turned and left. The referee did not notice the incident, while Messi only knew after the match when reminded by teammate Sergio Romero.

It seems that the Argentina team has complained to the match organizers. And if the incident is investigated, certainly the moment Antonio Sanabria spat at Messi will be dissected and the possibility of the 27-year-old player being severely punished cannot be ruled out.

But when asked about his behavior, Antonio Sanabria, who spent many years playing for Barca’s youth team, denied. He said he “sprayed”, but did not aim at Messi and it was the camera angle that caused the misunderstanding.

Looking from behind, it seemed that Sanabria had spit on Messi

“It looks like I spit on him, but that’s not true. Because the distance between me and him is very far. Because looking from behind, people feel that way,” Sanabria emphasized.

Meanwhile, Messi affirmed that he was unaware of Sanabria’s actions and did not care who this player was: “I didn’t know anything until everyone told me after the match. I don’t even know who this kid is. And I don’t want to make a big deal out of it because he will be talked about everywhere and that’s even worse. He will be known by many people, so it’s better to leave it at that.”

Instead of this incident, Messi turned his attention to the match. He believes that the important thing is that in difficult times, Argentina won: “Things are always difficult and even more difficult in a tense match. The important thing is that we won and we played well, especially in the first half.”