Lionel Messi breaks silence after World Cup final defeat that ended with 'disgraceful' scenes
Lionel Messi has broken his silence after Argentina lost the World Cup final to Spain yesterday.
The 2026 World Cup final match was fairly lacklustre, with no team scoring until Spain’s Ferran Torres in extra time.
Throughout the game the Spanish side dominated Argentina, who only had two shots on target the entire match, the first of which came in the 117th minute.
The game, which has been rumoured to be the last World Cup match Messi might play in, ended in a 0-1 win for Spain.
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However, while the game itself was lacking in drama, the same can’t be said for what went down after the final whistle, with Argentina’s Leandro Paredes accused of throwing 'haymakers’ and the squad being branded a ‘disgrace’ after turning their backs while Spain were lifting the World Cup trophy.
In the aftermath of the match, Argentina’s captain snubbed interviews - unlike head coach Lionel Scaloni who walked out of a press conference after being overcome with emotion.
However, Messi has now spoken out on the defeat in a new post on Instagram, in which he admitted it would ‘take time to heal’.
The 39-year-old wrote: “‘The pain is immense, and this wound will take time to heal.
“But I also hold onto all the good things… The matches we turned around by giving it our all—moments that will remain in our memories forever—and the support of an entire country which, combined with this group’s hard work and effort, brought us back among the world’s elite once again.
“It is hard to fully appreciate our achievement right now, but this group reached two consecutive World Cup finals.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for every greeting and message. Once again, we managed to unite as a country and stand together, sharing the immense pride of being Argentine.”
He also took time to ‘congratulate Spain on winning the championship’.
As yet, Messi hasn’t commented on the controversy surrounding last night’s match, but earlier today FIFA confirmed it had launched an investigation.
“Following an assessment of the relevant match reports for the FIFA World Cup final between Spain and Argentina, and in line with article 36 of the FIFA disciplinary code (FDC), the FIFA disciplinary committee has appointed a disciplinary and ethics prosecutor to investigate potential breaches of the FDC with regard to the post-match incidents,” a statement read.
“Further details will be communicated by the FIFA disciplinary committee once the prosecutor’s report has been completed.”It is still not known whether the committee is investigating Argentina players for holding up a banner proclaiming Argentinian sovereignty over the Falkland Islands after the win over England.
That action appeared to be in direct contravention of Article 34.3 of the tournament regulations. The Argentinian Football Association was fined over the same act following a 2014 friendly against Slovenia, but UEFA has previously taken stronger action for a similar offence, imposing one-match bans on Spain’s Rodri and Alvaro Morata after chanting about Spain’s claims to Gibraltar after winning Euro 2024.
Topics: World Cup, Lionel Messi
Claire Reid