Lionel Messi has always been considered more likeable than his big rival Cristiano Ronaldo, and it’s not surprising why. You won’t see Messi criticising his teammates, or posing in his underwear, or complaining about being “sad”....you get the picture.
With that said, Messi is certainly no saint. There have been various incidents of controversy throughout his career that have brought his squeaky-clean image into question, meaning that maybe he’s the equal of Ronaldo in that arena, too. Here are five of the best – or worst, if you will.
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#1: The tax dodging issue
So for all the wrongs Ronaldo might’ve committed in his career, at least he’s never ended up in court. Messi did in June 2016 and in fact he was perilously close to a prison sentence if it were not for Spanish laws stating that non-violent, first-time offenders given short sentences can serve their sentence under probation.
The crime? Tax evasion that Harry Redknapp himself (alledgedly) would’ve been proud of. Messi and his father landed in hot water with the Spanish government when it was revealed that over a period of two years – 2007-2009 to be exact – they’d defrauded the tax authorities of around £3.19m, a pretty monstrous figure by anyone’s standards.
Using tax havens in Uruguay and Belize, Messi and his father hid away the money, thought to be the income from image rights with companies such as Adidas, Danone and Coca-Cola. While Messi denied any knowledge of this, putting the blame solely on his father, who had dealt with the contracts, the courts decided that Leo knew enough to be guilty too.
His sentence? 21 months on probation. There was no word on whether his bank accounts were under his dog’s name, though!
#2: Retiring from international football....and then changing his mind
While his Barcelona career has been wildly successful, Messi has had mixed results with his national team Argentina. We’ll get into that a little more later, but it’s a pretty accepted fact in football that unless you’re miles past your prime, you should represent your country until they no longer need you.
That wasn’t the case at all when Messi announced his retirement from international football in June 2016, following an unsuccessful Copa America campaign that saw Argentina lose in the final to Chile. The game went to a penalty shootout after ending 0-0, and to rub salt into the superstar’s wounds, Messi missed his penalty.
Following the loss – Messi’s fourth in a major final with Argentina – he announced that he was hanging up his international boots at just 29 years old, basically still in the prime of his career. It was an odd decision from the beginning – almost like a child refusing to play on after a bad loss.
Less than three months later though – after a fan campaign – Messi was back in the blue and white stripes of Argentina, claiming he hadn’t deceived anyone with the quick un-retirement. Not sure about that one, Leo.
Also Read: What happens to the world of football after Messi and Ronaldo retire?
#3: Going MIA for Argentina
While Ronaldo has suffered from accusations of being a flat-track bully, the same criticism hasn’t been fired at Messi because he usually delivers no matter what for Barcelona. For Argentina though – especially in the World Cup - it’s another story.
His first World Cup appearance came in 2006 but realistically he was very raw at that point and while he scored against Serbia and Montenegro, he didn’t really play a big part and was left on the bench as Argentina were eliminated by Germany in the quarter-finals. 2010 was supposed to be his starring moment, but again he didn’t really rise to the occasion as Argentina again went out at the hands of Germany.
He had a built-in excuse that year, though – Diego Maradona was managing Argentina and clearly didn’t have the tactical nouse to guide a team to victory, even with the world’s best player in his ranks. 2014 then was meant to be different. Except it wasn’t.
Argentina made the final of the tournament in Brazil but were again beaten by those pesky Germans. And while Messi captained the side, he certainly never lit the tournament up like other players, only really starring in a tricky win over Iran that saw him score an injury-time winner. But that’s Iran!
Somehow Messi was still awarded Player of the Tournament despite Colombia’s James Rodriguez clearly deserving the title, and most saw it as a marketing ploy at best.
#4: Accusations of diving
Diving, flopping, simulation. Call it what you will but it’s now an accepted part of football, however disgraceful it might be. Contrary to popular belief it’s been around since the 1970’s – Francis Lee was renowned for it – but it’s now more common than ever before.
It may come as a surprise to some people that Lionel Messi, the stereotypical good guy, has been accused of diving at times throughout his career. Maybe not as much as someone like Ronaldo, or Didier Drogba, but he’s still certainly been involved in some controversial moments.
Take the time he went down against Real Sociedad in 2011 for instance – he went down as if he’d been shot by a sniper, but thankfully the referee spotted it and showed him a yellow card. Or against Osasuna in 2016, the incident that saw him hit the deck before realising the referee had spotted the con. That time he outright came clean and avoided the booking.
Compilation videos of Messi’s dives litter Youtube and they’re not that difficult to find. While he’s not as practiced in his Tom Daley impressions as some of his contemporaries, there can be no denying that Lionel Messi is capable of diving with the best of them.
#5: His total domination of the Barcelona side
While it’s not surprising that Barcelona would build their team around Messi – he is arguably the world’s best player after all – sometimes it’s come to the possible detriment of the team’s ambitions. The best example of this? The brief Barca career of Swedish legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Signed by Barca from Inter Milan in the summer of 2009 in a deal that saw Samuel Eto’o head the other way, Zlatan was supposed to be the cherry on top of an already pretty epic cake. He’d come to Barcelona to win the one trophy that had always eluded him – the Champions League – and most people figured it was a distinct possibility.
After one season though, Zlatan was back in Milan, this time with AC. While fall-outs with Pep Guardiola definitely contributed to his exit, it turned out he also had a lot of issues with Messi.
Ibrahimovic accused Guardiola of always bending to the need of the Argentine – changing the formation to suit him and to cut out the Swede, and explaining that he felt Messi was jealous of him because he would potentially be the team’s new top goalscorer.
Sure, Ibrahimovic is a known trash-talker, but surely where there’s smoke, there’s fire? Nowadays Messi shares some of the limelight with Neymar and Luis Suarez, but he’s still firmly top dog in the Barca camp and it’s doubtful he’ll give that spot up without a fight – just ask Zlatan.
