3 times Lionel Messi lost his cool on the pitch

#2 Spitting incident

Messi and Duda enjoyed battles over the years.

It is no secret that players do get frustrated in matches, particularly when they are the target of fouls and nudges from the opposition. Someone like Messi would be an obvious target in every match because even when given even a little bit of room, he can cause problems offensively. In a 2008 league match against Malaga, Messi had been running rings around Malaga's defender, Duda. The Malaga player did not take kindly to the footballing humiliation and kept making dirty tackles to stop Messi. In return, Leo himself lost his call. The Argentine appeared on video spitting in disgust in the direction of his opponent.

#1 Red card vs Chile

Chile and Argentina were locked in a third-place playoff during the 2019 Copa America. A vicious confrontation ensued in the 36th minute with Chilean defender Gary Medel, with both men sent off and the incident confirmed by a VAR review. The duo got too close to each other and started pushing each other, with none willing to back away. Messi also received some backlash after allegedly criticizing the whole tournament for favoritism to Brazil.