Outside of the friendly confines of the United States, Barcelona vs. Real Madrid is recognized as one of the biggest — if not the biggest — rivalry in athletic competition. The same way Red Sox players tend to dislike Yankee fans and Yankees players tend to dislike Red Sox fans, the footballers for either team don’t seem to care for the opposition’s fan base. The question is was Lionel Messi allowing that to show through during El Clasico on Saturday? Check out the video of Lionel Messi booting the ball at Real Madrid fans, courtesy of Deadspin:
Messi certainly tried to make it look like an accident by his reaction, but he obviously knew the ball was heading out of bounds and could have done without slamming it. Players often put a charge into the ball to make sure it gets out of bounds, but these are some of the most accurate strikers in the world and it definitely looked like he knew what he was doing. I say intentional, what do you think?
