Lionel Messi got in touch with Jamie Carragher to have a go at him about his punditry a couple of years back, mere hours before being crowned the Ballon d’Or winner
Jamie Carragher has opened up about the time Lionel Messi sent him an abusive message
Jamie Carragher has revealed that Lionel Messi sent him an abusive message hours before winning the Ballon d’Or.
The Liverpool legend has never been afraid to go against the grain as a pundit, and criticism of his views on social media is in no short supply. But nothing could have prepared him for the DM he received after declaring that PSG would never win the Champions League with Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in their side back in 2021.
Explaining what happened to Kate Abdo and Thierry Henry during CBS Sport’s coverage of the Champions League on Tuesday, Carragher said Messi called him a “burro” [donkey], and in the following day’s broadcast he went into further detail: “I was coming home from a game at Chelsea and I got a message [from Messi] and I was like, ‘That can’t be him. It must be one of these fake accounts’.
“But I had a look and [it was him]. He told me his opinion. I had to then Google translate everything because I didn’t have a clue what he’d said to me, and I just [replied], ‘Thanks for your opinion’.”
Less than 24 hours later Messi was awarded his seventh Ballon d’Or, pipping Robert Lewandowski to first place, and Carragher thought he’d use the opportunity to try and mend fences. “I replied to him saying congratulations, and he saw the message but he didn’t reply,” the ex-defender said.
Messi won the Ballon d’or the day after messaging Carragher
Despite being proven right about PSG, Carragher said he was going to try and get into Messi’s good books. He told his colleagues: “I don’t want the greatest player of all time thinking I’m a donkey.”
Until then, the 45-year-old will have to accept the fact that the two greatest players of the 21st Century don’t think much of him, with Cristiano Ronaldo infamously blanking Carragher at the side of the pitch ahead of a Manchester United vs Liverpool game in August last year. “Two of the greatest player of all time have got absolutely not time for me at all,” Carragher moaned, to which Henry replied: “It’s tough to recover from [being labelled a] donkey, to be fair.
Abdo then asked if he would be happy to be “paraded out on a donkey” if CBS Sport secured Messi for some studio time. “Yeah. Donkey on my head, anything,” Carragher joked. “Anything for content, anything for the show.”
Messi is currently favourite to win a record eighth Ballon d’Or after winning the World Cup and Ligue 1 title with PSG, though Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is expected to put up a stiff challenge. The trophy will be awarded on October 30.
