Lionel Messi Mocks Antonio Sanabria After Paraguay Player Appeared to Spit on Him

• Antonio Sanabria appeared to spit on Lionel Messi when Paraguay faced Argentina
• Messi responded with a brutal statement aimed at the Torimo striker after the game
• The Argentina skipper started the game on the bench before replacing Julian Alvarez

Lionel Messi fired back, rather savagely, at Antonio Sanabria after it emerged that the Paraguay player might have spat on him.

Argentina hosted Paraguay at the Estadio Mas Mounemtal on October 13 as the race to qualify for the 2026 World Cup gathers pace.

An early volley from Nicolas Otamendi was the difference between the two sides in a game in which Messi started from the bench.

The skipper has had injury issues in recent times but was brought on in the 54th minute, replacing Julian Alvarez.

Messi and Sanabria's incident

Later on, Messi was involved in a confrontation with Sanabria. The Torino striker appeared to spit on the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner after he had turned his back on him.

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The incident was not spotted in real-time by officials and thus went unpunished.

Speaking after the game, Messi revealed he did not know at that time he had been spat on before going ahead to aim a brutal dig at the Paraguayan forward.

"They told me in the locker room that someone spat on me. The truth is that I don't even know who that boy is. I prefer not to talk. Otherwise, he's going to go out and talk everywhere and will be known," he said as translated by Roy Nemer.

Meanwhile, Sanabria denied claims that he had spat on the Inter Miami forward, blaming the camera angles instead. CONMEBOL reserves the right to review match incidents and take necessary action as they deem fit.

Argentina will be away to Peru next week, while Paraguay host Bolivia.

Messi declines to take armband from Otamendi

As Sports Brief previously reported, Otamendi started as the side's captain, with the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner watching from the subs bench.

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As he was being introduced for Argentina, the skipper made a gesture to the Benfica defender that implied Messi wasn't interested in the armband.

However, the former Manchester City star declined the offer and ended up 'forcing' the armband on him as they shared a great moment together.