Brazilian national team striker Rodrygo (Real Madrid), who quarreled with Lionel Messi (Inter Miami) and called him a "coward" during the game, later complained that he had been subjected to racial discrimination.
Rodrygo announced on his Instagram account on the 23rd (local time), “There are always racists,” and “My social media has been invaded by insults and nonsense.” He added: "If we don't do what they think, if we don't keep our heads down when they attack, racists commit criminal acts. I wish them the best of luck. We won't stop."
On the 22nd, Rodrygo played in the 2026 North and Central America World Cup South American qualifier home game against Argentina, his 'biggest rival'. This match was held at the Maracana main stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Even before kickoff, the atmosphere between soccer fans from both countries was unusual. Violence broke out in the stands. The Brazilian police, who were brought in to extinguish the incident, were even caught on the broadcast footage assaulting Argentinian spectators with batons.
In the process, the image of a soccer fan lying 강남오피 down bleeding quickly spread online. As a result, the Argentine players, including Messi, quickly left the ground.
The game was delayed for 27 minutes and resumed after many twists and turns. But this time, Rodrygo and the Argentine players got tangled up on the ground.
According to Argentine media 'TyC Sports' and British media 'Daily Mail', Rodrygo got into a war of nerves with Argentine midfielder Rodrigo De Paul (AT Madrid). Afterwards, when Messi intervened in the argument, Rodrygo called Messi a 'coward'.
The media reported that Messi, who heard this, countered by saying, "We are world champions, so why are we scared?" 'TyC Sports' even released the video, saying, "Even though he had his hand over his mouth so that it wasn't completely captured on camera, it was very clearly audible."
In this day's read more game, veteran defender Nicolas Otamendi (Benfica) scored the winning goal in the 18th minute of the second half, and Argentina won 1-0. Argentina took the lead in the South American preliminary round with the win. On the other hand, Brazil suffered a World Cup qualifying defeat at home for the first time in its history. Moreover, they suffered the bitter result of losing 3 times in a row in the preliminaries.
After the game, Messi celebrated on his SNS, “It was a great victory at the Maracana.” However, he emphasized that the stadium violence "will be recorded as oppression against Argentina" and "This is completely unacceptable, this is crazy and it must end now."