Messi rejects FIFA ban, says 'My sayings were never addressed to the assistant'

Argentina and Barcelona star, Lionel Messi has written to FIFA to request that his four-game international ban be overturned, after he was punished on Tuesday for verbally insulting a match official during Argentina's World Cup qualifier against Chile last week reports El Mundo Deportivo.


The Argentina captain was fined 10,000 Swiss francs ($10,160) by FIFA's disciplinary panel and is due to miss three more of Argentina's remaining four World Cup qualifiers, against Uruguay, Peru and Venezuela, after sitting out the defeat to Bolivia on Tuesday.

FIFA considers Messi to have breached the article by displaying "offensive behaviour" towards the assistant.

FIFA said Messi was guilty of "having directed insulting words at an assistant referee," but Messi has asserted his innocence, saying he was yelling "to the air" in the nine-paragraph letter.

"I vehemently deny having offended assistant referee 1 during the game against Chile, and more so do not believe that my conduct falls under article 57 of FIFA's disciplinary code," he wrote.

"My sayings were never addressed to the assistant, but they were said to the air," the five-time Ballon d'Or winner said.

"Assistant referee 1, of Brazilian nationality, perfectly understood what I was saying, so much so that we spoke amicably and at no time did my words offend or insult the official.

"If any of my words made assistant referee 1 uncomfortable, they were never directed at him but rather to the air and for that, I apologise."

He concluded by writing: 

"I hereby expressly request for the disciplinary case to be dismissed without any sanction against me."

The Argentina Football Association (AFA) new president, Claudio Tapia on Wednesday told a news conference the federation was working on the appeal.