In the 80th minute at Kansas City stadium, the Argentina coach substituted Messi, with the team leading by three goals after his hat-trick. As he left the field, Messi headed towards the technical area to watch the final minutes. However, no empty seats remained on the Argentina bench.
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Lionel Messi celebrates his third goal during Argentina's 3-0 victory over Algeria in Group J of the 2026 World Cup at Kansas City stadium, Missouri, on 16/6. Photo: AP |
Seeing his captain return, 25-year-old midfielder Thiago Almada immediately stood, offering his seat. This gesture is common in football, particularly when the recipient is a star player who has performed exceptionally.
Messi declined the offer. He gestured for Almada to remain seated. Instead of his teammate standing, Messi chose to sit on the field's edge near the technical area, conversing with other players, including defender Cristian Romero, also recently substituted.
On social media platform X, many fans praised Messi for refusing Almada's seat. The GoalAlert HQ account described this as "very humble".
Meanwhile, the narisns account shared in Latin that Messi, recognizing no empty bench seats, and despite Almada's willingness to yield his, still sat on the ground, posing an emotional question: "Humble, right?".
User DAMI also expressed admiration, stating that Messi is a very humble player because of that choice. And cold.calmer concluded: "How can you not love him?".
That moment became a highlight alongside his impressive on-field performance. Against Algeria, Messi scored all three goals for Argentina. He opened the scoring in the first half with a left-footed shot from outside the penalty area. In the second half, the forward completed his hat-trick, securing Argentina a 3-0 victory.
This hat-trick helped Messi equal Miroslav Klose's 16 World Cup goals. As he left the field, coach Lionel Scaloni became emotional, crying in the technical area. Seeing his captain approach, Scaloni stood, embraced him, and said, "We love you very much."
Argentina will play their second match against Austria at 0h on tuesday, 23/6, Hanoi time. The two teams have met three times: one win, one draw, and one loss each. Their last encounter was 36 years ago.
