Lionel Messi Faces Intense Backlash For Taking a Freekick Before Vozinha Set Up a Wall: “Biggest Cheat in Football History”

Lionel Messi and Argentina advance to the Round of 16 after defeating Cape Verde 3-2 at the Miami Hard Rock Stadium.

Lionel Messi Faces Intense Backlash For Taking a Freekick Before Vozinha Set Up a Wall: “Biggest Cheat in Football History”

Vozinha saves a quick free kick from Lionel Messi (Image via Reuters)

The Blue Sharks were out for blood and played a ferocious game against the defending champions, almost setting the stage for the biggest upset in recent history. The Cape Verde men’s football team, playing in a historic knockout game against Argentina, fell 3-2 after 120 minutes of action.

The game was abuzz with intense moments after Deroy Duarte equalized at the 59th minute. The Argentines had mellowed a bit after Lionel Messi put them ahead in the first half. After the equalizer, they upped the ante, constantly running into the Cape Verde defense with intense duels.

Messi was at the precipice of scoring multiple times, only to be denied one after the other by the resilient defense and the 40-year-old Vozinha in front of the net. In the 73rd minute, the Argentine forward was awarded a free kick just outside the box. Before Vozinha could set up the defense wall, the referee blew the whistle.

In an attempt to catch the opponents off guard, Messi struck a left-footed shot toward the upper right corner of the net. While such quick moves are not uncommon in football, Messi’s tricky play had fans outraged. Nonetheless, Vozinha ended up making a brilliant save, diving and fully extending his body to keep the goal from making its way into the net.

The game eventually ended 1-1 in regulation time. In the added extra time, Lisandro Martinez put Argentina once again on top before Sidny Cabral equalized in the 103rd minute. Later, a corner kick from Messi found its way into the net through an own goal, and Argentina maintained this lead to advance to the Round of 16 for the fifth consecutive edition.

The last time Argentina didn’t make the Round of 16 was in 2002, when they finished third behind Sweden and England in the group stage and crashed out of the World Cup.

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Fans call Lionel Messi ‘immoral’ and call his conduct ‘unsportsmanlike’

The Argentine superstar has been on a sensational roll in this World Cup. He has now scored in eight consecutive World Cup games, starting from the Round of 16 against Australia in the FIFA World Cup 2022.

Lionel Messi (Image via Getty)
Lionel Messi (Image via X)

Messi has also become the highest goal scorer in World Cup history, both men’s and women’s, when he scored a free kick against Jordan in the second group stage game. With his goal against Cape Verde, he has become the first man or woman to score 20 goals in the FIFA World Cup.

Argentina and the 39-year-old have been accused of being favored by referees and officiating decisions since the last World Cup. The latest quick play from the former has accelerated some of those questions, with netizens calling the player a ‘cheat’ and FIFA ‘a corrupt institution.’

The post calling him a cheat, made by a fan of the Spanish league team Real Madrid with the username @Rmcf_TAA, has since been deleted. Nonetheless, other users have slammed Messi and claimed the referee was corrupt in allowing Messi to take the free kick before the goalie was ready.

Earlier, a few users had mistakenly noted that the referee hadn’t even blown his whistle before Messi took the shot.

However, Argentina and Lionel Messi supporters have replied, pointing out previous incidents where quick free kicks have been lauded as “high IQ” and “football knowledge.” Trent Alexander-Arnold’s quick corner, which led to Divock Origi converting it to a goal during the second leg of Liverpool’s 2019 UCL semi-final against FC Barcelona, has been brought up by fans.

The goal was highly praised and even voted as the greatest goal in Liverpool’s history.

The Albiceleste will now play against Egypt in the pre-quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup 2026, who defeated Australia on penalties after drawing 1-1 in added extra time. It will be the second meeting between the two teams. Argentina won that game 2-0 in 2008 with goals from Sergio Aguero and Nicolás Burdisso.

Their U20 teams, comprising senior members of the current squad like Emiliano Martinez and Mohamed Salah, had played a knockout game in the FIFA U20 World Cup 2011. The Argentines eliminated Egypt 2-1 with two goals from Erik Lamela. The Egyptians’ sole goal was scored by Salah.

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