Lionel Messi’s four-match ban by FIFA can have far-reaching consequences for Argentina as the 2010 World Cup semi-finalists struggle to qualify for 2018 version.
After Argentina’s 2-0 loss to Bolivia, Diego Maradona said that the ban was excessive for Messi who is “a teddy bear with his teammates”, and was hoping to get it reduced.
“Messi’s ban is excessive and terrible,” Maradona told Buenos Aires-based radio station La Oral Deportiva. “Very shortly I will meet with Infantino [FIFA president Gianni Infantino] in Bahrain and as usual, I will tell him what I think.”
Maradona, who is an ambassador to Fifa, believes the ban can be changed. “Four games is a lot and although his words were very strong, I think it [ban] can be changed,” he was quoted as saying by ESPN.
The Argentina striker was suspended for four games for insulting the assistant referee during Argentina’s World Cup qualifier against Chile. He was alleged to have hurled insults in the direction of Brazilian assistant referee Dewson Silva that included comments about his mother and was caught on video hurling the abuse after an officiating decision that went against Argentina. He missed the subsequent game against Bolivia and is set to miss three more crucial games in Argentina’s qualification.
Maradona went on to compare Messi’s outburst with that of Zinedine Zidane at the 2006 World Cup final, where the French captain was suspended for head-butting Marco Materazzi.
“He is a teddy bear with his teammates, with everyone. You would have had to be inside the dressing room or at a training to know whether that is something reflexive, I don’t know. I would compare it to the head butt that [Zinedine] Zidane gave to [Marco] Materazzi. That left France with 10 men. It ended up being the big moment of the [2006] World Cup and France lost to Italy,” Maradona said.
Messi, on the other hand, sought to the clear his name and get his ban reduced by writing a letter to FIFA that was published by El Mundo Deportivo, reported ESPN.
In the nine-paragraph letter, Messi claimed his words had not been aimed at the official but he was yelling at the air.
“I vehemently deny having offended assistant referee 1 during the game against Chile, and more so do not believe that my conduct falls under article 57 of Fifa’s disciplinary code,” he wrote.
“If any of my words made assistant referee 1 uncomfortable, they were never directed at him but rather to the air and for that, I apologise.”
“I hereby expressly request for the disciplinary case to be dismissed without any sanction against me,” he concluded.
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