In a revealing new video, Argentina’s captain Lionel Messi delivered an intriguing chat to his teammates just before their World Cup final showdown with Spain, which ended in an unexpected defeat.
Spain secured a decisive 1-0 victory over the reigning 2022 champions at New York’s New Jersey Stadium on Sunday. Ferran Torres clinched the win with a goal during extra time, sealing what was one of the most dominating performances ever seen in a World Cup final.
Argentina’s path to the final had been marred by controversy, narrowly defeating Cape Verde, Egypt, and Switzerland. Their aggressive tackling and controversial tactics against England in the semi-finals sparked criticism. The tournament concluded on a sour note for them as a post-match brawl with Spain tarnished their campaign.
The footage captures a moment before the match where Messi, clutching his nation’s pennant flag, turns to his seemingly despondent teammates. Encouragingly, he urges, ‘Come on, guys, stay calm, folks. Let’s stay calm, guys. Just focus on the game, stay calm. Forget everything else. Just think about the game, folks.’
This peculiar pep talk has sparked debate among fans, leading many to wonder if Argentina’s squad was mentally prepared for such a critical encounter.
Lionel Messi delivered a curious message to his Argentina stars before the World Cup final
Argentina’s World Cup final defeat by Spain ended with a disgraceful brawl on the pitch
Some supporters have theorised whether Messi was telling his team-mates to forget about world football’s negative perception of them throughout the tournament, amid claims that World Cup referees had favoured Argentina in decisions throughout the knockout stage.
After staging a late comeback to win 3-2 against Egypt in the last 16, opposition manager Hossam Hassan furiously accused FIFA of rigging the World Cup after a string of controversial refereeing decisions went against his side.
Switzerland were also furious at officials after their 3-1 defeat by Argentina in the quarter-finals, as forward Breel Embolo was shown a controversial second yellow card following a VAR review.
Other supporters have suggested that Argentina’s stars were emotional about the prospect of playing with 39-year-old all-time great Messi for the final time at the World Cup, despite him not having officially retired yet.
Argentina reacted disgracefully to Spain’s celebrations at the full-time whistle as Leandro Paredes was sent off for throttling Eric Garcia and throwing Gavi to the floor in shameful scenes.
Nahuel Molina also punched Rodri in the torso as he was running by, while Thiago Almada was involved, too.
Their emotional manager Lionel Scaloni then stormed out of his press conference in tears, saying: ‘We need time to reset and form another group like this one. It’ll be hard to recreate this one. It hurts my soul, I’m sorry.’
Responding to the video of Messi on social media, one fan posted: ‘I know Spain are a quality team, but Argentina’s performance genuinely left me baffled. They looked nothing like the team we’ve come to know.
‘There was no intensity, no urgency, no excitement completely different from the energy they showed in there previous games. Something felt off about that performance. I still can’t explain what I watched.’
A second fan said in a post: ‘Argentina knew they couldn’t beat Spain so were trying to just make it to penalties.’
A third posted: ‘Something weird is going on here. Very weird. Lionel’s pep talk, Enzo’s eyes, Licha’s red nose… something VERY weird happened before the final.
‘Neither Messi, nor De Paul, nor Paredes, nor Dibu, NO ONE is posting anything on social media. Minimally weird.’
Another conspiracy theorist added: ‘At the Qatar final, they got off the bus totally unhinged, tearing through everything. Something happened, some argument with Scaloni, Tapia told them something, some FIFA sanction, I don’t know.
‘They were wrecked physically and mentally. I insist, something really shady went down there and we’re gonna find out about it in 40 years.’
Messi was in tears at the end of the game and refused to watch Spain lift the World Cup trophy
Fans were not afraid to offer their speculative theories on social media in response to the video
Argentina also made headlines after the World Cup final defeat for refusing to watch Spain lift the trophy.
The defeated finalists collected their silver medals from FIFA supremo Gianni Infantino and US President Donald Trump on the stage at the MetLife Stadium but decided not to watch as Spain lifted the trophy – which is customary in finals of major tournaments.
Instead, the Argentina players, coaching team and staff walked over to the end where the majority of their fans were located and spent time gazing into the crowd with glossy eyes.