"Messi bottling for Argentina", "Crying in Argentina shirt again" - Fans brutally troll Lionel Messi for missing crucial penalty against Poland
Fans are brutally trolling Lionel Messi after he missed a crucial penalty for Argentina against Poland on 30 November.
The legendary forward won a contentious spot-kick in the 36th minute when Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny went to bat the ball away.
His glove caught Messi in the process and there was a long pause as Dutch referee Danny Makkelie consulted with VAR over the incident.
The Dutchman went to the VAR pitchside monitor to look further at the altercation between Lionel Messi and Szczesny, before awarding the penalty.
The Paris Saint-Germain attacker stepped up but his effort was denied spectacularly by the Polish shot-stopper in the 39th minute.
The Juventus man becomes the first goalkeeper to save two penalties in a World Cup tournament since the USA's Brad Friedel in 2002.
It is a huge blow for Messi and co are eager to secure a victory and advance to the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup.
La Albiceleste need to win in order to advance, they can also progress if they draw and Mexico draw with Saudi Arabia or the Mexicans win by two goals or fewer.
Lionel Messi's chances of winning his first FIFA World Cup in his last appearance at the tournament is at stake.
However, he has done himself no favors by missing the spot-kick and fans are mocking him on Twitter.
Here are some reactions on the social media platform to Messi's penalty miss:
No wonder Messi fans are obsessed with excluding penalties, their GOAT can’t score them😭
Messi signature move is back 😂 https://t.co/LrhxJbG7hd
messi who? #POLARG https://t.co/MOHVDzWcul
Lionel Messi is back 😭 https://t.co/JTXWzqK2dT
Critical match, missed penalty, this match has the potential to complete the circle of Messi crying in an Argentina shirt https://t.co/TiwN6WVDT0
Shame on you VAR & FIFA. Giving the softest penalty in the World to try let Argentina and Lionel Messi through the World Cup. Disgraceful Decision. Never a Penalty in a Million Years. And Lionel Messi still missed. They tried to help you and you failed. You are not the GOAT Pessi twitter.com/i/web/status/1… https://t.co/vOOp9PpnAP
FIFA are doing EVERYTHING to get Argentina through but they didn't count on Messi bottling for Argentina
Mauricio Pochettino wants Argentina to win the FIFA World Cup for Lionel Messi
Pochettino is eager for Argentina to win the World Cup in Qatar for Lionel Messi as he believes the iconic attacker deserves the trophy.
Messi came close to winning the tournament in 2014, but his side suffered an agonizing 1-0 loss to Germany in the final during extra-time.
The former Barcelona forward has announced that this year's appearance at the World Cup will be his last.
Pochettino coached Messi at PSG and wants La Albiceleste to bring the trophy home.
He said:
“I can feel here that everyone, football people, wants to see Messi lift the World Cup trophy. Everything Messi has given to football is like football should reward Messi by giving him the trophy."
Pochettino continued his assertion that Messi deserves the trophy:
“We need to wait, we need to see and hope everything will go well for Argentina."