Former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino has blasted Argentina captain Lionel Messi for failing to rein in his teammates' aggression during their World Cup final loss to Spain last weekend. Argentina fell 1-0 to Spain in New Jersey after Ferran Torres scored the decisive goal.
Spain dominated the match with superior football, but tensions boiled over when some Argentina players clashed with their Spanish counterparts after the final whistle. Messi did not engage in the altercation.
Speaking on talkSPORT's The Sports Breakfast, Cascarino expressed disappointment that Messi didn't attempt to control his team's behavior on the pitch. He acknowledged that physicality is inherent to football but argued that Lionel Scaloni's squad failed to showcase their quality against Spain.
"I was a bit disappointed in Lionel Messi if I'm honest about not actually reacting to the way they played," Cascarino told the programme. "Because he's been the highest player I could ever think of."
The pundit added that he was surprised Messi didn't tell his teammates to demonstrate restraint while playing to their strengths. "I was surprised that Lionel Messi didn't sort of say, 'Hey, look, physicality is part of our game, but we've got a lot of talent, and we should have shown a bit more of that,'" he said.
