The world stopped for a moment.
Lionel
Messi
suffered one of the most shocking kicks of his career in the match that his team, Inter Miami, played against Nashville SC, in the round of 16 of the Concacaf Champions Cup, better known as Concachampions.
It happened 13 minutes from the end of the duel after the Argentine rubbed the lamp and brought the team led by Gerardo Martino closer on the scoreboard, which had been left behind by Canadian Jacob Shaffelburg's double.
It was then that fellow Canadian Lukas MacNaughton attacked the Scaloneta captain with brutal ferocity.
ميسي يغادر مسرعا pic.twitter.com/dFKPEkFN8L
— Messi Xtra (@M30Xtra) March 8, 2024
It seemed like he had broken his left leg, the magical one.
However, Leo stood up.
But he was outraged because the referee, the Mexican Marco Antonio Ortiz Nava, did not even show him a yellow card.
"It was nothing, right?" the man from Rosario ironically said to the referee, who did not even flinch at the Canadian's violence.
The anger was even greater for La Pulga when a couple of minutes later Shaquell Moore made it 3-1 for the homeowner.
Although the VAR immediately corrected it and everything returned to calm.
The same VAR that incredibly did not intervene to sanction MacNaughton's brutal action.
The entry of the tough Canadian defender reminded us of another bad moment for Messi.
It was in September 2021, in Caracas, when playing for the National Team he suffered another very tough challenge from Venezuelan Luis Adrián Martínez, in the Qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Redondo also got away
Federico Redondo made his Inter Miami debut in the match against Nashville SC.
He wore jersey 55 and was hyperactive, going from coast to coast.
In fact, he left the field in injury time with signs of cramping.
However, the son of the Prince and former Argentinos Juniors could have left the field long before.
It was in the 25th minute of the opening stage when he tried to stop a Nashville SC counterattack and inadvertently elbowed Jacob Shaffelburg, who scored two goals for the Tennessee team.
ROUND ELBOW: THE ARGENTINE WAS SAVED FROM THE RED CARD.
📺 The CONCACAF Champions Cup, by #StarPlusLA pic.twitter.com/V1nLgSiTlM
— SportsCenter (@SC_ESPN) March 8, 2024
On that occasion Ortiz Nava did not resort to VAR either.
Redondo, as all his rivals claimed, had to go to the showers.