A video of Brazil fans singing 'Lionel Messi Ciao' after Argentina's shock defeat to Saudi Arabia in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has emerged.
Messi's Albicelestes suffered a 2-1 defeat against Saudi Arabia in their campaign opener on November 22. The PSG ace gave his team the lead from the spot in the tenth minute. However, Saleh Alshehri and Salem Aldawsari scored in the second half goals to help Saudi Arabia script a memorable come-from-behind win.
Brazil fans certainly enjoyed their arch-rivals' loss and directed chants towards the Argentina captain.
Here's the video of Brazil fans mocking Messi:
Argentina cannot afford to drop more points to keep alive their hopes of reaching the knockouts.
Lionel Messi refuses to make excuses for Argentina's loss to Saudi Arabia
Argentina captain Lionel Messi reacted to his team's loss in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He didn't make any excuses and called for his team to be more united than ever.
Speaking after the game, Messi said (via Bleacher Report):
"There are no excuses, We are going to be more united than ever. This group is strong, and we have shown it. It is a situation that we haven't gone through in a long time. Now we have to show that this is a real group."
Messi added that the loss is difficult to digest for Lionel Scaloni's team, as they didn't expect the game to pan out the way it did. He said:
"It's a very hard blow because we did not expect to start in this way."
Argentina will next be in action against Mexico on Saturday (November 26). The Mexicans are coming off a goalless draw against Poland in their tournament opener. Another loss will douse Argentina's hopes of reaching the Round of 16.
Messi has now played 20 games in the FIFA World Cup across four editions, registering seven goals and five assists. A final appearance in 2014 (losing to Germany) is the deepest he has gone at the World Cup with Argentina.