Lionel Messi: Why Mexican politician wants star banned from country | OneFootball

Lionel Messi has made plenty of headlines – both on and off the pitch – at the 2022 World Cup.

With three goals to his name from four appearances in Qatar, the Argentine icon has helped fire his country to the quarter-finals of the tournament, where they will meet the Netherlands on Friday evening.

The Paris Saint-Germain forward has thrilled fans throughout the competition, proving that he’s still one of the very best in the world even at 35 years old.

However, the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner inadvertently found himself at the centre of a storm of controversy after Argentina’s 2-0 group stage victory over Mexico.

What did Lionel Messi do to anger Mexico fans at the World Cup?

During footage taken from Argentina’s victory celebrations in their dressing room, Messi appeared to flick a Mexico shirt that had ended up on the floor with his foot while taking his boots off.

It all looked entirely accidental, but many Mexican fans weren’t happy after seeing the footage, including pound-for-pound boxing superstar Canelo Alvarez.

“Did you guys see Messi cleaning the floor with our jersey and flag. He better pray to God that I don’t find him,” tweeted Alvarez after the match.

Messi never responded but Canelo continued to engage in a one-sided feud with the former Barcelona man, even becoming embroiled in an argument with his former teammate Sergio Aguero.

Thankfully, after a few days, cooler heads prevailed.

Mexico captain Andres Guardado – whose shirt was involved in the incident – actually came out in defence of Messi, branding the level of attention the matter was receiving as “silly”.

“I know the person Messi is. It’s a deal with the staff that when it’s all sweaty, it gets left on the floor. Be it your jersey or rival. Canelo doesn’t know what a dressing room is. It seems silly to me. That shirt was mine, I exchanged it with Leo,” he told TyC Sports, via talkSPORT.

Finally, after a considerable amount of mud-slinging, pretty much everyone accepted that it was a genuine accident on Messi’s part with no disrespect intended.

Except, that is, for Mexican politician Maria Clemente Garcia Moreno who has gone as far as to file an official motion that Messi be banned from the country over the incident.

Mexican politician wants Lionel Messi banned from the country

We’ve absolutely no doubt that the Mexican parliament has got better things to do with its time, but that didn’t stop Moreno from drawing up an official document to present to ministers calling for Messi to no longer be allowed on Mexican soil.

Per The Mirror, it read as follows:

“The Chamber of Deputies of the Honorable Congress of the Union respectfully urges the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue the corresponding Declaration in order to declare persona non grata within of the territory of the United Mexican States to the citizen of Argentine and Spanish nationality, Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccitini, due to his manifest contempt and lack of respect towards Mexico during the World Cup of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) on Saturday, November 26, 2022.”

Mexico were eliminated from the tournament on goal difference, having finished level on points with Poland in Group C.

It’s hard to imagine that this ‘issue’ would ever have been brought before parliament if Mexico were still involved in the competition.

Now that the motion has been formally tabled, however, officials are duty-bound to consider it, even if there would seem to be little chance of it being ratified.