Canelo Alvarez issues threat to Lionel Messi over perceived Mexico jersey disrespect
Canelo Alvarez trains ahead of his match with Caleb Plant. Photo Credit: Esther Lin / Showtime
Canelo Alvarez is not happy with Lionel Messi over what he perceived to be a disrespectful act from the Argentine soccer star.
Argentina beat Mexico 2-0 in Group C play at the World Cup in Qatar on Saturday. Messi is said to have swapped a shirt with a Mexican player after the match. Messi apparently had that Mexican jersey with him in the locker room after the match, which is when things went bad.
A video was shared that showed the scene in the Argentina locker room after the 2-0 win.
The scenes in the Argentina dressing room last night. That win over Mexico meant a lot! 👏🏻🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/04I5ec1gzI
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) November 27, 2022
The problem is some people focused on one part of the video that showed Messi kicking the jersey as he took off his cleat.
Afición mexicana poniéndose ayer el jersey de #Messi #Argentina 🇦🇷 y su ídolo pateando la playera de #México 🇲🇽que estaba en el suelo. pic.twitter.com/j9PcnAo3WT
— Uriel Chacón | (@DimeChacon_) November 27, 2022
Here are a few still images that circulated:
🚨 Messi swapped shirt with a Mexico player after the game and then in the dressing room he was seen kicking the Mexican jersey he got from a mexican player. #mexico #messi #WorldCup2022 pic.twitter.com/EPc3TKhSxk
— m11rtinelli 🇧🇷 (@m11rtinelli) November 27, 2022
The isolated clips and images look bad out of context. Apparently that media is what caught Canelo’s attention.
The Mexican boxing star went on Twitter and asked his followers whether they had seen Messi clean the floor with the Mexican gear.
Vieron a Messi limpiando el piso con nuestra playera y bandera ????
— Canelo Alvarez (@Canelo) November 28, 2022
Canelo then called out Messi for his actions.
Así como respeto Argentina tiene que respetar mexico!! no hablo del país(argentina) hablo de messi por su mamada que hizo. 👊🏻🔥
— Canelo Alvarez (@Canelo) November 28, 2022
“Just as I respect Argentina, you have to respect Mexico!! I’m not talking about the country (Argentina) I’m talking about Messi because of the stuff he did,” Alvarez said in one tweet (translated by LBS).
Canelo then said that Messi better pray to God that he doesn’t run into the boxer.
Que le pida a Dios que no me lo encuentre!! 👊🏻👊🏻🤬🔥
— Canelo Alvarez (@Canelo) November 28, 2022
Is Alvarez taking things too far over something more incidental? Without a doubt. But you could argue Messi should have taken better care of the jersey.
Canelo was already extremely popular and is further endearing himself to his country with those comments.
