Lionel Messi waited over a month to make his home debut for Paris Saint-Germain and certainly didn't expect it to end with him being substituted as his team desperately chased a winner against Lyon.
Messi looked utterly bewildered when he was taken off for Achraf Hakimi in the 76th minute and didn't try to hide his anger, staring at the floor as he trod off, giving Mauricio Pochettino a deathly stare as he made for the bench and then snubbing the coach's offer of a handshake.
Pochettino's decision was vindicated as Mauro Icardi's injury-time winner clinched a 2-1 victory but Messi's dismayed reaction to the substitution was the main takeaway from the game and the overriding talking point.
Messi is not used to being substituted but he has now been taken off by Pochettino as many times as in each of his final three seasons at Barcelona, while he was not taken off in any league games in the 2017/18 campaign.
Pochettino justified the decision after the game by saying he did not want to risk Messi getting injured but he made a bold move in taking off the six-time Ballon d'Or winner in a clear indication that the team's needs must come ahead of the needs of star players.
Messi has a long history of defying coaches, even ones as imposing as Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique, and Pochettino will need a firm backbone to dare take the player off again without consulting him.
Sportsmail takes a look at the other times coaches have made decisions Messi did not agree with. Each time, the Argentine ended up winning the battle with his manager.
TAKING ON LUIS ENRIQUE AFTER NOT STARTING AT SOCIEDAD
Messi's most famous rift with a coach was with Luis Enrique after he was benched for a LaLiga game at Real Sociedad in January 2015.
What seemed at first like a logical coaching decision led to a near mutiny from Messi which threatened Luis Enrique's job, caused the president to call elections and saw sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta sacked.
Messi had only recently returned from a Christmas break in Argentina and Enrique decided to start without him or Neymar in the first game back away to a Sociedad side coached by David Moyes.
Sociedad took an early lead through a Jordi Alba own goal and Luis Enrique hauled on Messi and Neymar after the break but Moyes' side clung on for a famous win which dented Bara's title chances but most of all caused an earthquake back in Catalonia.
Messi was absent from a rare open training session the next day and even missed the team's annual visit to children's hospitals.
Barca tried to blame his absence on a stomach bug but their excuse fooled no-one, particularly due to an ill-timed interview Xavi Hernandez had given days before in which he revealed 'gastroenteritis in the world of football sounds like an excuse, when something else is going on'.
Enrique, a club legend, was booed by fans in the next game against Elche and reports appeared in the Spanish media that Messi had urged president Josep Maria Bartomeu to sack the coach and threatened to leave if he did not.
It took an intervention from Xavi to heal the rift between Messi and Luis Enrique and things began to look up when Barca beat champions Atletico Madrid 3-1 the following week, then going on to win a stunning treble in which the Argentine played a starring role along with Neymar and Luis Suarez.
Enrique later admitted there was 'a period of tension' with Messi but said nowadays he can 'only say good things' about the Argentine.
But the usually headstrong coach had learned the hard way that not even he could look to impose his authority on the little genius.
REFUSING TO TRAIN AFTER BEING SUBBED BY GUARDIOLA
Luis Enrique is not the only authority figure Messi has rebelled against.
Pep Guardiola substituted the Argentine for Pedro in a 4-0 win over Valencia in his first season in charge of the club, a seemingly harmless decision given his side had already scored four goals and there were nine minutes to go.
But Messi did not see it this way and declared his intention to miss training the next day, according to Catalan radio station RAC1.
Barca's players convinced him to finally leave his house after a series of phone calls but once at the training facility he refused to get changed into his kit.
Barca said publicly that Messi had not trained as he was receiving injury treatment although privately they fined the player.
Messi had made his point though and was only substituted once more that season in the league.
TEXTING GUARDIOLA ABOUT IBRAHIMOVIC
Beyond being subbed at the end of a game, Messi sensed a far bigger problem the following season: the form of new signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Barca had broken the bank to sign Ibrahimovic from Inter Milan, spending €46million (£39m) on him and sending Samuel Eto'o the other way.
Although he later complained about Barca being too much like a school with rigid rules, Ibrahimovic made a flying start to life at the Nou Camp, scoring 11 LaLiga goals in his first four months, including the winning goal in El Clasico against Real Madrid.
But Messi saw the Swede as a threat and let Guardiola know - by text message.
Then only 22, Messi was remarkably shy and was unable to express his thoughts to his coach so he sent him a text while sitting only a few rows behind him on the team's bus.
'I can see that I am no longer important to the team, so …' Messi wrote, according to a 2012 book titled 'The Messi Mystery'.
Messi was mostly upset with Ibrahimovic's central role in the team and being forced to playing on the right wing after playing so well as a 'false nine' in the latter stages of the previous season.
The Argentine was quickly restored to a central role and Ibrahimovic shunted to the right, where he was less effective and less mobile.
The Swede featured little in the latter stage of the season and soon left the club for AC Milan while Messi remained and went on to be Barca's all-time top scorer and best player.
Not even a proven star and volcanic personality like Ibrahimovic could get in his way and the Swede has never forgiven Guardiola.
'Pep preferred to make Messi happy - he didn't value me,' he wrote in his autobiography.
LASHING OUT AT SETIEN OVER HIS TEAM SELECTION
Messi had enjoyed a good relationship with Ernesto Valverde and did not take long to show his displeasure at the coach being sacked, penning a furious message on Instagram attacking sporting director Eric Abidal over the decision.
So it was little surprise that he did not get off to the best start with Valverde's successor Quique Setien and was questioning the new coach's decisions less than a month into his tenure.
Simon Kuper, author of the book 'Barça: The Inside Story of the World's Greatest Football Club', has revealed that Messi was furious over Setien picking Junior Firpo at left-back in a match at Real Betis rather than his longtime teammate and close personal friend Jordi Alba.
According to Kuper, Setien asked Messi at half-time what he thought of the team's performance as they had to twice come from behind to make it 2-2 at the break.
'What do you think I think?' snapped Messi
'This isn't a youth team!' Messi shouted. 'Play your best players.'
Setien soon did as he was told and brought Alba on for Firpo, Barca going on to win the game 3-2.
Setien later told former Spain coach Vicente del Bosque in newspaper El Pais how tough it was to be in charge of Messi.
'He is very reserved, but he makes you see the things he wants. He doesn't speak much. But he watches,' he said.
'Who am I to change him if they have accepted him for years here and have never asked him to adapt?'
themainman
616
seems like Pochettino hasn't yet realized that he can be sacked just because he made messi angry
Hadam44
533
ronaldo gets substituted* messi fans - "oh ronaldo is finished" messi gets substituted* messi/barca fans - "he is god how dare you substitute him, finished coach, leave him alone"
dahiru224
413
Simeon on Messi & CR7
21Legacy
329
Paredes to Messi after he got substituted: "Are you going to sack Pochettino?"🥺
badgoal
310
This is actually sick. If you all that read this and still support this behavior of Messi, then you are truly sick in the head. you all actually worse than Messi in reality. This is wrong no matter how you look at it. threatening your coaches jobs, refusing to train, belittling your father's age mate. if Ronaldo did all these, the whole media will come after him everyday, the stup!d Messi fans will insult him. What is wrong is wrong
badgoal
12
My Brother Don't Think Messi Wrath Story Was Posted And Ronaldo Bad Behavior Was Not Posted, Cr7 Made Madrid Sack Mourinho Bcus He Don't He's Pattern And Same Thing To Pellegrini At Real Madrid And He Sack Benitez Also Bcus He's Not Playing To His Taste And He Almost Did The Same To Zidane In His Last Season At Madrid And Going To Juventus When Sarri Sub Him Against Parma He Was Furious And With Sarri And The Next Game He Was Bench, He Condemn Sarri Tactics And Sarri Was Question By The Board After Sarri Won The Serie A The Next Season He Was Sacked With Immediate Effect And Sarri Quote To Juventus Board We'll See Who Is Better Between Ronaldo And Him Sarri But When The Season End Juventus Lost The Serie A For The First In 10yrs Under Ronaldo Watch And Almost Missed Out In The Top 4 And Sarri Now Asked Juventus Board Who's Better And Worst And Now Ronaldo Has Left Juventus After He Failed To Give Them What They Sign Him For.. I'm Saying Messi Is A Saint But We're All Human And When We're Bigger Than Some People We Used It To Oppressed Them And Same Goes To You And Me
One mistake you just made, Ronaldo's bad behavior are always posted compare to Messi's. let me correct some wrong informations you posted. Pellegrini was sack by Perez cause he didn't like him, CR7 wasn't even the star at the team then, Raul was. Mourinho was sacked after a fallout with the dressing room big boys and the Champions league semifinal defeat to Bayern Munich. Benitez wanted to build the team around bale which was impossible and he sacked himself after that match against Barcelona I think 4-0 without Messi playing. [Crylaugh] try to read more news and behind the scenes stories. Zidane told Perez to sell bale and offer CR7 a new contract but Perez refused. Zidane knowing fully well CR7 was leaving before anyone, also decided to leave. Zidane loves CR7 in case you don't know. for Sarri, stop trying to blame CR7, the whole team complained of Sarri football, I can provide evidences if you want. Sarri got himself sacked for what he said after the Lyon match. You blaming CR7 for Juventus not winning the league actually shows your high level of foolishnéss and a bra!n size of a rat.
Venomxos7
12
useless... is he bigger than the club
That's why I love Mourinho .He is a man of honour.He doesn't give a f*k about the best player of the team even if he's gonna get into trouble.
jetbciknrz
9
seems like Pochettino hasn't yet realized that he can be sacked just because he made messi angry
useless... is he bigger than the club
themainman
8
useless... is he bigger than the club
u clearly haven't seen most the drama at barca involving staff gettin sacked in a similar manner