2023-11-17 05:22:47
Lionel Messi invited Manuel Ugarte, Uruguayan midfielder of PSG, to “respect the elders” after miming an obscene gesture towards Rodrigo De Paul during the boiling Argentina-Uruguay (0-2), counting for the qualifications for the 2026 World Cup.
As is often the case, it was very heated between Argentina and Uruguay (0-2) on Thursday during qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. And it even went beyond the limits, according to Lionel Messi (36). The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner criticized Manuel Ugarte (22), Uruguayan midfielder for PSG, for miming an obscene gesture towards Rodrigo De Paul (29), Argentine midfielder, after the first defeat of the Albiceleste since the World Cup.
Ugarte mocked De Paul’s ‘Messi’s bodyguard’ attitude
De Paul is often seen as Messi’s “bodyguard” on the pitch, following him like his shadow and intervening in every opposing charge that goes a little too far. And that’s what Ugarte crudely mocked by calling him “sucks… from Messi”, according to TyC Sports.
“It’s normal for these kinds of matches, the qualifiers… Against Uruguay, it’s always like that. I prefer not to say what I think,” declared the former Barça star now at InterMiami.
“Young people must learn to respect their elders,” Messi continued.
“This classic has always been intense, hard, but always with a lot of respect. They have to learn a little.”
Messi then recognized Argentina’s great difficulties in getting rid of the trap set by Marcelo Bielsa’s team. “It was difficult for us to play,” he remarked. “They are intense. They make you one on one, they have physical and fast people in the middle. It was difficult for us to find our game. We never feel comfortable. We can’t find a way to have the ball and play long possessions. That’s why their game also makes us accelerate and we get into that rhythm. They’re a physical team, which works well, there’s a lot of danger.”
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“You can see the hand of what they are,” he added, referring to the Bielsa paw. “In every team or club, including the Argentine team, you can see his hand. They play very well. We lost, it’s also a test. It can happen and we have to get up and try to make a great match in Brazil.”
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