Could the 2018 World Cup in Russia happen without Leo Messi?
While many will fail to believe that the world’s most prestigious football competition could happen without Messi – who apart from being the best in the world alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, is a huge player in the advertising world – that possibility is starting to feel more real as the days pass.
The whole issue centres of Messi’s recent four game international ban, which was slapped on the FC Barcelona star after he was accused of verbally assaulting an official during a recent match with Chile.
Messi has already missed a 2-0 defeat away at Bolivia that dropped La Albiceleste out of the qualification places for the World Cup. If his ban holds, Messi will also miss matches against Uruguay, Venezuela and Peru.
Leo goes to war
In the past few days, reports have been circulating about how the Argentinian federation (AFA) plan to appeal the Messi ban in Zurich in a hearing scheduled for May 4.
Last week Clarin reported that the AFA plan to show that Messi’s comment to the ref – “la concha de tu madre” – isn’t actually insulting. The AFA plan to show a video in the hearing of Messi using the exact same phrase to celebrate a trophy with Barcelona from back in the day.
La Nacion built on that report claiming that should Leo Messi show up to the hearing in Zurich, that will automatically drop his ban from four games to two.
However Spanish radio station Cope have dropped some truth bombs from Messi over the weekend, via AFA president Claudio Tapia.
Tapia spoke to Cope this weekend following a sit-down with Messi, and the Barcelona star made it clear he’s not interested in playing nice with the suits in Switzerland.
It’s been confirmed that Messi has no intention of turning up at his appeal hearing, and he will not apologise for his behaviour.
If that means his four match ban is upheld, Messi’s attitude is ‘so be it’.
NOTICIA @tjcope: Messi dijo que no tenía ninguna intención de viajar a Zurich para disculparse. Si le rebajan la sanción bien; si no, nada. pic.twitter.com/h9ux2z4mXx
— El Partidazo de COPE (@partidazocope) April 15, 2017
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