Paris Saint-Germain superstar Lionel Messi was at the heart of proceedings once more as Argentina defeated South American rivals Honduras on Friday evening, only for a mass brawl to break out during the first-half of the showdown in Florida.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner was on top form as Argentina secured a 3-0 victory - Messi himself getting two goals, with Inter Milan's Lautaro Martinez also getting in on the action. Despite the relatively comfortable victory, the Honduran team took a somewhat illegal approach to halting Messi in his tracks.
During the first-half with the scores at 1-0 after Martinez’s opener, the PSG forward found himself on the right-flank and was set to embark on one of his trademark dribbles. Honduras midfielder Deiby Flores had other ideas though.
He steamed into Messi, making contact with the 35-year-old’s face with his shoulder and leaving him clutching his head on the floor.
That triggered some further unsavoury scenes on the pitch with Rodrigo de Paul accusing Flores of intentionally elbowing the PSG star. Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez, Juventus ’ Leandro Paredes and Inter striker Martinez were all among those to crowd around the referee - with the vast majority of players, even Honduras goalkeeper Luis López even getting involved.
Despite his challenge, Flores was only given a yellow card as retribution from the referee with Messi then getting the last laugh.
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He notched his first goal just seconds before the half-time break with a cool penalty after former Spurs man Giovani Lo Celso was fouled in the box.
Messi then got another as he converted with an excellent, chipped effort from distance to take his international record to an astounding 104 goals in 186 outings for his country.
Interestingly enough, Messi’s incident with Flores was not the first time that he had been hit in the face during the current international break. Footage from training ahead of the clash with Honduras pictured De Paul slapping the forward in the face whilst he also mouthed: “Are you stupid, Leo?”
However, that time, it was only part of good-natured fun and those positive spirits appeared to have galvanised Lionel Scaloni’s men with them cruising to a straight-forward victory.
They will certainly be hoping to follow-up that positive form next week as they take on Jamaica in their penultimate friendly ahead of the World Cup. A clash with the United Arab Emirates follows that in mid-November before Argentina get their latest campaign up and running having been placed into a group alongside Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Poland.
