This morning (November 15), Argentina suffered a 1-2 defeat against Paraguay in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Although Lautaro Martinez scored an early opener for La Albiceleste, they still let their opponents come back with two goals from Sanabria and Alderete.

This was a match in which Messi played very poorly in the context of being surrounded too tightly by Paraguayan players. During the entire match, superstar number 10 only had 1 shot (off target). He touched the ball 67 times but lost the ball 14 times.

Not only that, Messi also left a bad image after this match. The cause started from the situation where Messi was blocked by Paraguayan defender Omar Alderete (who had received a yellow card before) in the 37th minute.

The Argentine players thought that it was a foul worthy of a card by Omar Alderete. If so, the Paraguayan player would have been sent off. However, referee Anderson Daronco only decided to warn Omar Alderete.

That made the members of Argentina feel dissatisfied. However, referee Anderson Daronco did not change his decision. At the end of the first half, Messi went up to talk to the referee. He emphasized the referee’s mistake in not sending off Omar Alderete. The captain of the Argentine team even pointed at the referee and said something.

According to lip analysis, Messi said to referee Daronco: “You are a coward. I don’t like your decision.” That shows El Pulga’s anger. If referee Daronco had sent off the Paraguayan player, Argentina would have had a big advantage. Ironically, Omar Alderete was the one who raised the score to 2-1 for Paraguay.

This is not the first time Messi has been “mad” with a referee. In September, superstar number 10 argued with the referee in charge of the match, Ramy Touchan. This player used words like “bastard, bastard” to talk about the referee.

Or at the 2022 World Cup, Messi criticized referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz (who was the main referee of the match between Argentina and the Netherlands). “We were scared before the game because we knew what kind of person Mr Lahoz is,” he said. “I think FIFA needs to reconsider this. They should not assign him to referee important matches. He is not qualified.”

In any case, even after losing to Paraguay, Argentina still maintained their top position in the South American qualifying group for the 2026 World Cup with 22 points, three points ahead of second-placed Colombia.