Messi to Portuguese referee at the World Cup: 'Speak to me properly, don't disrespect me'
Cameras caught Messi pointing his finger at Portuguese referee João Pinheiro during Argentina's 3–1 win over Switzerland. The episode sparked a global controversy at the World Cup.
Finger pointed, voice steady. Lionel Messi wasn't letting it go.
In an already tense match by nature, TyC Sports cameras caught the moment Argentina's No. 10 went face-to-face with Portuguese referee João Pinheiro during the 3–1 extra-time victory over Switzerland that sealed a World Cup semi-final spot.
"Speak to me properly, don't disrespect me. Speak to me properly — I spoke to you with respect," Messi reportedly told the referee, according to footage widely shared across social media.
The incident is said to have been triggered by the tone Pinheiro used when addressing the player — and it quickly became fuel for an even bigger controversy moments later.
Shortly afterwards, the referee overturned a yellow card shown to Paredes and sent off Switzerland's Breel Embolo for simulation. The Swiss were furious: in their view, Messi's influence over Pinheiro had weighed on the decision.
But former German referee Lutz Wagner defended the officiating in real time. According to him, "the wrong-identity rule and the misreading of the situation" justified the change: the card had gone to the wrong player for a non-existent foul, and Embolo's dismissal was "absolutely correct."
Outside the pitch, the reaction was harsh. The Archivo VAR portal described João Pinheiro as a referee who "is not up to the standard of any match worth its salt," according to Record. The international press used words such as "disastrous," "utter chaos" and "surreal" to describe his performance, as reported by the same outlet.
Argentina march on — and Golmetria's model gives them a 23.6% chance of lifting the trophy, the highest probability among all remaining sides. But before any semi-final kicks off, this World Cup already has a name attached to its defining debate: João Pinheiro.
What will the next referee to face Argentina be walking into?