Messi was angry with Çakir; refused to bump fists at the end of the match
The Argentine star was upset with the referee's performance versus Napoli and decisions which went against him
Leo Messi was the main attraction during FC Barcelona's 3-1 victory over Napoli in the Champions League.
The Argentine star made the difference in an impressive first-half performance by Barcelona. Lenglet opened the scoring before Messi produced a moment of individual brilliance to make it 2-0 on the scoreboard. He later went on win a penalty which Suarez converted to give Barça a 3-0 lead.
Messi thought he had scored his second of the game when he got on the end of Frenkie de Jong's pass. He jinxed past Koulibaly and then beat Ospina. However, referee Cuneyt Cakir decided to rule it out - after VAR looked at the incident - for a supposed handball.
That anger only increased when Koulibaly took out Messi in the box for a clear penalty. After VAR looked at the incident for a couple of minutes, and despite Messi's insistence of being tripped, Cakir felt the need to watch the incident on the pitchside monitor. He eventually stuck with the decision to award a penalty.
By the time the match had finished, Messi's anger hadn't subsided. When Cakir walked off the pitch he offered his fist to players from both sides but when he reached Leo, the Argentine simply waved his winger a the official. Messi later turned around and continued his protests about some of the decisions Cakir had made.
Topics with the letter
