Diego Godin explains his gestures, says he meant no harm to Lionel Messi

Diego Godin

Atletico Madrid centre-back Diego Godin explained his gesture towards Lionel Messi during the first half of the SuperCopa de Espana first leg at the Vicente Calderon.

Messi was seen struggling with and feeling his thigh muscle, and it was evident that Atletico Madrid defender Godin pointed Messi’s injury to team-mates, before making a fist sign, as if to indicate he meant to target the injured part.

Godin although claimed that he didn’t mean any harm to Messi.

As reported by Euro Sport, he said: “These are gestures of football. When you are playing you know what it means. I have seen that he was feeling that area and made gestures towards my team-mates that we must tighten up.

“We at Atletico play every ball as if it were the last. That is what has earned us many things.

“Obviously it was all with respect to Messi. I do not go out to hurt anybody out there and I will not tell a team-mate to go out and hit a colleague either.

“But we must be attentive to what the opponent can do because we have to do everything possible to win a game.

“They are gestures for us to tighten to our opponent, to press them and to stay with the ball. It is a final and we have to play to the limit, there was no malice.”