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Lionel Messi’s final World Cup appearance will be remembered for more than just the scoreline, and fans made sure of that within minutes of the final whistle.
Lionel Messi had already given Argentina everything he had. The internet, though, was more interested in something entirely different. A moment during a tense, goalless stretch of extra time had fans asking one question on repeat: Why was Messi trying to get an opponent sent off?
It happened late in normal time, with Argentina already down a man after Enzo Fernandez picked up a second yellow card for a reckless challenge on Pau Cubarsi. Tempers were already thin. That is when things got messier, no pun intended.
Messi walked up to referee Slavko Vincic and made his case. He wanted Spain’s Marc Cucurella booked, or worse, for allegedly covering his mouth while talking to an opponent. It sounds small, but it is not. FIFA introduced a rule this tournament that punishes exactly that, and it has already produced two red cards.
Vincic wasn’t convinced. No card came out, and the game moved on. The clip, though, did not.
Fans Slam Lionel Messi Across Social Media After World Cup
Once the footage started circulating, the reaction was brutal and fast. This was not the typical Messi discourse people are used to.
“What was that from Messi trying to get Cucurella sent off. I was cringing so bad,” one fan wrote. Another wasn’t much gentler: “Lost so much respect for Messi trying his hardest to get Cucurella sent off there.”
Somebody else skipped the nuance completely and just called him “such a rat.” A fourth fan added, “Lol Messi trying to get Cucurella out… Terrible being.”
For a player who rarely invites this kind of pile-on, it stood out. People expect chaos from most athletes, but not from him.
Here’s the thing. This wasn’t even the first time Argentina tried to use that exact rule to their advantage. Leandro Paredes attempted something similar in the semifinal against England, going after Harry Kane with the same mouth-covering complaint.
That one didn’t work either, and for good reason. The rule is built for confrontations between players, not for players pleading their case to referees mid-match.
Two attempts, two misses. At some point, that starts to look less like a coincidence and more like desperation, especially from a team that was struggling to create anything on the scoreboard. And Argentina really was struggling.
Down to ten men for most of the second half, they did not manage a single shot on goal in ninety minutes. That has never happened in a men’s World Cup final before. Spain had the ball more and created more, but could not find the breakthrough either, so the game rolled into extra time still scoreless.
Argentina finally got a shot off in the 116th minute. It didn’t matter. Ferran Torres scored soon after for Spain, and that was the game. 1-0, and Spain’s second World Cup title.
For Messi, the Cucurella moment will probably fade into a footnote. What won’t fade is the ending. At 39, this might be the last World Cup he ever plays, and it wrapped up without the fairytale so many people wanted for him. Whatever frustration pushed him toward that referee, it wasn’t enough to change the result. Argentina’s run for back-to-back titles is over. So, quite possibly, is Messi’s time on this stage.
