The standard of officiating at the 2019 Copa America caused Lionel Messi to hit out at CONMEBOL and he has started a war with the South American federation.
Having been shown a red card against Chile, the No.10 is already in trouble and he could face further sanctions for his post-match comments.
Here, we take a look at the four main questions to have arisen from this conflict between the South American federation and the continent's star player.
Will Messi be banned for any matches?
He will be hit with a ban of at least one match because of his red card, which will be served in a World Cup qualifier when they begin in March of 2020 - unless an appeal is successful.
Will be punished for his comments?
His strong words could be punished by CONMEBOL, like they are in similar situations with UEFA.
The Argentine federation will fight to avoid extra sanctions, but CONMEBOL believe this could be a case of repeat offending given that the forward was previously given a four-match ban for arguing with an official during a 2018 World Cup qualifier.
That was later reduced to one game, but the offence is still remembered in South America.
Are Messi or Argentina considering snubbing the 2020 Copa America?
It doesn't seem so. Argentina are, along with Colombia, one of the host nations. Messi did say he doesn't want to take part in corruption, but it's unclear what exactly he meant by that. Surely he didn't mean not playing. Playing in the UEFA Nations League has been ruled out too, as UEFA came out to dismiss reports that a place had been offered.
Will there be an effect on the CONMEBOL refereeing?
CONMEBOL should feel the need to do something about the referees and VAR.
It's clear that the VAR protocol isn't as slick as it is in Europe.
Dimcltu
144
Messi do you remember when you robbery this guy for his best player?
princehans
85
he always feels as if he knows better than the coach, better than the referee, and better than everyone. when ever he looses a game, he finds it hard to accept. its time he knows that when u are in a team, ur action n wrong words can affect the others
SD533
77
Messi is still the goat.
Mobbdmpsy
67
Messi is the goat
BHARonaldosundar
67
if neymar was banned for his message in his social media about VAR...then y treat messi specially...he should not have used the word corruption and brazil were made to win .....come on everyone knows brazil were way better than argentina even without neymar....so expecting messi to be banned not for 2 years but 10 matches like that
raju95
62
Messi can never win copa... just give him the trophy as charity... always crying like a little girl.
Beejayk1
58
The Copa America is over for Messi 6 Games - 1 Penalty - 1 Assist - 1 Red Card Give him the Ballon d'Or right now 😂 😂
Priyokumar
16
Messi do you remember when you robbery this guy for his best player?
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haha that is not about trophy it's about best player best performance
football19
10
Messi do you remember when you robbery this guy for his best player?
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Messi Doesn’t vote for Balon D'OR
minlen lupheng
8
he always feels as if he knows better than the coach, better than the referee, and better than everyone. when ever he looses a game, he finds it hard to accept. its time he knows that when u are in a team, ur action n wrong words can affect the others
did he lose against chile????they lost against brazil.its quite normal to get angry when u lost.he should'nt hve blamed the Entire association,but thats just frustation when u give ur all but lose.the refree descisons were wrong at times but he couldve just bear with it.but i dnt blame him,the refrees dnt really give af*** about VAR