Lionel Messi was at the centre of a controversial moment during Argentina’s 1-0 World Cup qualification win over Paraguay.
The world champions prevailed thanks to a third-minute strike from centre-back Nicolas Otamendi in a largely forgettable encounter.
Messi entered the fray as a 53rd-minute substitute and a flashpoint with fellow replacement Antonio Sanabria went on to hog the post-match attention.
Following an exchange of views with Sanabria, Messi turned away from the Paraguay striker. One replay angle appeared to show him spitting in the direction of the Inter Miami superstar.
Did Antonio Sanabria spit at Lionel Messi?
Speaking after the match, Sanabria denied spitting at Messi, with the Torino player insisting the camera angle proved deceptive.
“I saw the picture and it looks like I spit at him, but not at all. He was far away,” he told reporters. “As you can see it from behind, it looks like I spit at him, but not at all.”
What did Lionel Messi say about Antonio Sanabria?
When he addressed the incident himself, Messi simultaneously played down the incident — insisting he did not welcome a potential media storm — while also offering a brief and withering assessment of Sanabria which, frankly, demands reporting.
“Sanabria? They told me in the locker room that someone spat on me. The truth is that I don’t even know who that boy is,” he said. Ouch.
Messi added: “I prefer not to talk, otherwise he’s going to go out and talk everywhere and will be known.”
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Who is Antonio Sanabria?
Sanabria was born in San Lorenzo, Paraguay before moving to Spain with his parents in 2007, aged 11.
Here’s where Messi’s claim that he doesn’t “even know who that boy is” becomes particularly cutting because two years later in 2009, Sanabria joined Barcelona’s academy.
Okay, it’s not as if we can expect Messi to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of every entrant to La Masia at a time when he was ascending to become arguably the greatest footballer of all time.
However, in 2013, when Barca were short on attacking options, then head coach Tito Villanova invited Sanabria to take part in first-time training. This was during an international break but for Messi to have no awareness whatsoever of a young attack fast-tracked to the fringes of the first team feels a little unlikely.
Sanabria scored three goals in 10 Segunda Division appearances for Barcelona B but, a month after his brief time with Villanova’s squad, he rejected a contract extension to pique interest across Europe.
He agreed to join Roma ahead of the 2014/15 season after six months at fellow Serie A side Sassuolo on account of the capital club having filled its foreign player quota for the previous campaign.
Sanabria enjoyed the distinction of replacing Roma great Francesco Totti to make his debut but that was one of only two competitive appearances for the Giallorossi.
His breakthrough in European football came back in Spain, where he scored 11 times in a season-long loan at Sporting Gijon, performances that persuaded Real Betis to pay €7.5 million for his services.
The highlight of his time at Betis was scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win over Real Madrid in September 2017. That began a run of seven goals in as many La Liga appearances but, just as Sanabria’s star appeared to be on the rise, he suffered a knee injury that sidelined him for over four months.
He never hit those heights again, returning 21 goals in 84 appearances over the course of his Betis career. Italy came calling again, first in the form of an 18-month loan spell at Genoa that began in January 2019.
Two years after that, Sanabria joined Torino on a four-year deal. The 27-year-old enjoyed the most productive season of his career so far in 2022/23, scoring 12 times in 33 Serie A outings. Overall, he has 23 goals in 85 appearances Il Toro, although he has failed to find the net in six appearances this term.
He has 27 caps for Paraguay and two full international goals.
Famous spitting incidents in football
Spitting at an opponent is an action almost universally reviled in football, to the extent that a player making a dangerous tackle that puts an opponent’s safety at risk is likely to face less heat.
The most infamous occurrence probably dates back to the ill-tempered 1990 World Cup last-16 encounter between the Netherlands and West Germany. Dutch star Frank Rijkaard clattered into Rudi Voller and, after an ensuing exchange of views, spat into his hair.
This unseemly act was made worse by Voller’s commitment to a springy perm that displayed Rijkaard’s dubious work with unfortunate prominence. Referee Juan Carlos Loustau booked Rikjkaard for the tackle and an angry exchange between the AC Milan player and Voller – presumably relating to the disgusting deposit in his hair — also saw the latter cautioned.
From the resulting free-kick, Voller fouled Netherlands goalkeeper Hans van Breuckelen. Rijkaard tried to pull his opponent up off the floor by his ear, stamped on his foot and was sent off.
Maddeningly for Voller, he was also dismissed. As he stood perplexed, Rijkaard gobbed into his hair once more for good measure, creating a picture the went around the world.
Patrick Vieira is another world-renowned star to have spat at an opponent, doing so in the direction of West Ham’s Neil Ruddock after being sent off for Arsenal in October 1999. Vieira then got involved in an altercation with police in the Upton Park tunnel, with the entire meltdown landing him a six-game ban and a then-record £45,000 fine from the FA.
Senegal striker El Hadji Diouf was something of a persistent offender in this regard. His most notable spitting offence came in 2003 when his club Liverpool and the Glasgow Sheriff Court fined him for spitting at a Celtic fan during a UEFA Cup quarter-final.
Fabian Barthez had a slightly different brush with authority to Vieira and Diouf when he spat at a referee during Marseille’s game against Moroccan giants Wydad Casablanca in February 2005.
“I regret what happened but I’m not guilty because I didn’t spit at his face,” said Barthez. That argument didn’t pass muster as he was handed a six-month ban with three months suspended. Definitely an advert against losing your head in the friendly.
Two more great players already mentioned in this piece have also erred when it comes to one of football’s great do-not-dos. Italy icon Totti was banned for three games, with UEFA citing “gross unsporting misconduct” after he spat on Denmark’s Christian Poulsen at Euro 2004.
And Messi himself does not have a completely clean rap sheet. During a November 2008 game — probably around the time Barca scouts were mulling over whether or not to sign the young Sanabria — he appeared to spit on the back of Malaga winger Duda.
“It is not good that these things happen. We will try to avoid this type of incident.” his manager Pep Guardiola said after Messi scored in a 4-1 win. He did not face any sanction for the incident, an outcome that feels most likely after Messi and Sanabria’s exchange of views.
