A former referee has admitted that he favoured Lionel Messi after the Argentine agreed to give him his match shirt.
Back in the 2007 edition of the Copa America, Argentina were taking on Mexico in the semi-finals.
Messi, along with Gabriel Heinze and Juan Roman Riquelme all got onto the scoresheet as the Argentines came away 3-0 winners to seal a spot in the final.
During the match, Messi could have easily been booked and due to the accumulation of yellow cards, he would miss the final against Brazil.
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However, former referee Carlos Chandia, who took charge of that match, revealed he spared Messi’s blushes on one condition.
As reported by The Mirror, Chandia said on the ESPN FShow: “Out of nowhere, Messi lifts a ball and touches it with his hand, but in the middle of the pitch. There was no goal-scoring chance for the Mexican team or anything like that. So, I told him: 'This is a yellow card, but it will cost you your jersey,' and I didn’t show him the yellow card.
“There were two-and-a-half minutes left, and the score was 3-0. Showing him a yellow card would would have taken away his chance of playing in the Copa America final.”
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He added: “He gave me the shirt in the dressing room afterwards. In fact, he wanted to take it off on the pitch and I told him: 'No, no, no, no; take it to the dressing room'. And he came to the dressing room with the jersey and left it there for me.”
Speaking in 2020, Chandia revealed that his son is now the owner of the Messi match-worn shirt.
He said to TNT Chile: “I don’t remember the number, but I remember the smell. Not the best. My son has it now, he keeps it. The truth is that I think that because I didn’t give him the yellow card, Brazilians ended up saying something and that’s why I wasn’t the main referee of the Copa America final.”
The 2007 Copa America final was one to forget for Messi and Argentina as goals from Julio Baptista and Dani Alves plus an own goal by Roberto Ayala meant Brazil secured a 3-0 win.
Topics: Lionel Messi, Football, Copa America
Marcus Chan