Player 'spits' at Messi, superstar responds!

Upon his return to the Argentina national side, Lionel Messi was seemingly spat at by an opposition player, and he has since responded to the incident. 

The Inter Miami star was recently out of action due to an injury, but made his return for the Albiceleste early on Friday morning, coming off the bench in his country's 1-0 victory over Paraguay in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier. 

Read: Pep 'wants' Real Madrid star at Man City 

While the highlight reels will include Nicolas Otamendi's game-winning goal and Messi hitting the post twice, another incident has sparked conversation in the football fraternity. 

After the Argentina captain had turned his back following a brief but terse verbal exchange during the match, Paraguay's Antonio Sanabria appeared to spit at him.

 The 2022 FIFA World Cup winner, though, revealed in a post-match interview that he did not even know of Sanabria's action at the time.

"No, no. Truthfully, I didn't see it. They told me in the locker room that one of them spit at me," Messi said, per CBS Sports.

"The truth is, I don't know who he is... I don't know who this boy is." 

The former Barcelona talisman added that he was reluctant to put the situation in the spotlight, and that it was better to leave it alone.

Read: 'My angry wife gave up university so I could play with Messi'

While Sanabria received much social media backlash for seemingly spitting on arguably one of the greatest footballers the sport has ever produced, he himself has denied attempting to spit at Messi, suggesting that camera angles made it look that way in footage of the incident. 

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