“He put his fist on the side of my face” - Monterrey assistant coach opens up on altercation with Lionel Messi
CF Monterrey have reportedly filed a complaint against Inter Miami about a postgame altercation between Lionel Messi and head coach Fernando Ortiz, following their match on Wednesday, April 3.
Inter Miami and Monterrey faced each other in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarter-final at Chase Stadium, which ended in a 2-1 loss for the MLS club. Messi was reportedly involved in a heated exchange with Monterrey coaching staff after the match over Ortiz's pregame comments suggesting unfair officiating in home team's favor.
Nico Sánchez, assistant to Monterrey coach Fernando Ortiz, has claimed that he almost got into a fight with Lionel Messi. Sánchez said (via Diario AS):
“If Messi wanted to fight me...I don’t think he would have wanted to hit me because if he did, he would have actually hit me. I was a centimetre away, he put his fist on the side of my face. I think he was looking for a reaction more than to hit me."
On Wednesday, Inter Miami's Tomás Avilés opened the scoring in the 19th minute and the first half ended with the club maintaining the lead.
Sánchez explained the situation further, saying:
“At half-time, Messi went down to the locker room and I saw him but I couldn’t speak to him. In any case, it was half time. When the game ended, we went down to the locker room, we were there before our players and the Inter Miami players."
"To make matters worse, the two locker rooms are directly opposite one another, so our paths were going to cross no matter what. When I got to the door, I saw Messi, who was three metres away from me. There was also a security guard was and another person, an Argentine, who must work at Inter. I don’t know what he does but he is always with Messi."
Monterrey's Maximiliano Meza scored the equalizer in the 69th minute, followed by Jorge Rodríguez netting another in the 89th minute, giving the Liga MX side their lead. During the match, Inter Miami received five yellow cards, while Monterrey got three.
Nico Sánchez added:
"I politely approached Messi for a photo but the security guard stopped me, but in a pleasant manner. I think Messi was furious, the referees came through and of course he confronted them and said all kinds of things to the four of them, and them to him. And “Tata” Martino was next to him. They were both totally out of order. If we’d done that, we’d get kicked out."
"The atmosphere was tense, then “Tata” starts talking. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but it was something along the lines of ‘there are 90 minutes left, we are still alive...’. I don’t know, something like that said. I was calm, I never got angry. There were people from Concacaf there, I looked at him and said, ‘If we did this, they would kick us all out.’ ‘Tata’ Martino started saying all sorts and then Messi reappeared, I thought he had left. Messi reappeared and it was like he wanted to eat me alive."
Lionel Messi suffered a hamstring injury in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup round-of-16 against Nashville on March 13, which ended in a 3-1 victory for his club. He has been out since then and is reportedly returning to the game soon.
Lionel Messi's Inter Miami's current standing in the Major League Soccer
Inter Miami are currently second in the Major League Soccer table with 11 points in 7 matches. They are just a point behind table-toppers FC Cincinnati.
Lionel Messi's side will be facing Colorado Rapids next in Major League Soccer on Saturday, April 6, at their home ground, Chase Stadium. Inter Miami lifted its first-ever trophy on August 19, 2023, in the Leagues Cup final against Nashville SC, with a 10-9 score in penalties following a 1-1 draw.
Inter Miami will play against CF Monterrey in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarter-final on Wednesday, April 10.