The match between Mexico and Argentina at the Lusail stadium in Doha was lived with great rivalry between the two Latin American fans of group C displaced to Qatar. Even since previous days, it had fueled a wave of memes, insults and xenophobia among fans of both teams on TikTok and Twitter. After Argentina’s 2-0 victory, the comments of the popular Mexican boxer Saul Cinnamon Alvarez by a gesture from the Argentine captain, Lionel Messi, revived the tension.
“Did you see Messi cleaning the floor with our shirt and flag?” Alvarez wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Let him ask God that he doesn’t find me!” He added in another message to his more than two million followers. The anger of the Mexican boxing star against Messi made reference to a video recorded in the locker room of the Argentine team where one can see how Messi, when taking off one of his boots, hits a Mexican shirt that is on the ground, apparently the captain’s del Tri, Andres Guardado, who played with the number 18. His words set fire to social networks and fans of both countries gave free rein to cross insults. Messi’s former teammates in the national team and in Barcelona tried to lower their tone and make the boxer see reason, without success. “Mr. Canelo, don’t look for excuses or problems, surely you don’t know about football and what happens in a locker room,” Sergio said. Kun Omen. “The shirts are always on the floor after the games are over because of the sweat and then if you see well, he makes the movement to remove the booty and accidentally hits it,” Aguero concluded. “You don’t even know the person, you don’t understand how a locker room works or what happens after a game”, the Spanish Cesc Fabregas also came out in defense. “All the shirts, even the ones we wear ourselves, go on the floor and are washed afterwards. And more when you celebrate an important victory, ”he added.
Messi has not made statements in this regard, nor has Guardado or any other player from the two teams. However, the long relationship between the captains of Argentina and Mexico in Spanish football and previous gestures between the two detract even more credibility from the alleged humiliating intention attributed by Canelo to Messi. In 2018, when Guardado played for Betis and Messi for Barcelona, the Mexican went to the locker room with his son Maximo to greet the Argentine star and take a picture with him. In this World Cup in Qatar, both Messi (35 years old) and Guardado (36 years old) have entered the select club of players who have played five World Cups, which they share with the Mexicans Antonio Carbajal, Rafa Marquez, the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and the German Lothar Matthaus.
The Cinnamon Alvarez is the top Mexican boxer of the last decade. At 32 years old, the fighter has four world titles at the same time and is one of boxing’s great references by packing the arenas with each function in Las Vegas. Until now, there is no other great figure in the sport of fists and blood like him. Alvarez’s fights cause a huge economic benefit in the sport. In three bouts he has held against Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin, the Mexican has earned more than $153 million, not counting the $93 million earned by his rival and the millions from television broadcasts.
Alvarez, born in Guadalajara (Jalisco), has turned towards pure nationalism in his last fights. On the way to the ring, he has defended his Mexican roots with mariachi hats, the tricolor in his clothing and ponchos, although these have been designed by the luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana. There is no opportunity in which he does not defend his country and he has even gone so far as to say that he does not want to fight against his compatriots because “I represent Mexico.” Canelo’s tweet attack on Messi has not been the only episode, he has also engaged in several discussions with the Mexican journalist David Faitelson, whom he included in the threat with an insult for his physical complexion: “You and him together, click cer. ..” and then he no longer censored himself: “You cowardly bastard because when you have me in front of you you are an angel”, he pointed out.
Canelo, instead of offering an apology, insisted that “since the Mexico shirt is on the ground, it is already an insult. Stop bullshitting about what was or wasn’t.” A tweeter launched: “It is not an inspiration to hatred (sic), or to violence, but there are people who only shamefully understand, right?” Canelo, in his most tweety way, only wrote: “I agree.”
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