Canelo Alvarez got it all wrong, but he is trying to make things right.
The Mexican boxer has apologized to Lionel Messi, who he previously accused of disrespecting Mexico. He had previously sent a stern warning to Messi on social media after a tense 2-0 Argentina victory over Mexico in Group C on Saturday. Messi scored the opening goal, but a video showed up on social media accusing him of stepping on the Mexican flag.
“Did you see Messi cleaning the floor with our shirt and flag????” Álvarez tweeted, apparently in reference to a video which shows Messi celebrating with his teammates in the changing room.
The video shows Messi’s foot appearing to make contact with a Mexico shirt that was on the floor. There is no indication that Messi kicked the shirt intentionally.
“He better pray to God that I don’t find him!!” Álvarez added in another tweet, with a series of angry emojis. “Just like I respect Argentina, he has to respect Mexico! I’m not talking about the country as a whole, just about the bulls**t that Messi pulled.”
Messi’s former Argentina teammate Sergio Agüero fired back at the boxer, saying: “Mr. Canelo, don’t look for excuses or problems, surely you don’t know about football and what happens in a changing room.
“The shirts are always on the floor after games have finished due to sweat and then if you look properly, he makes the movement to remove his boot and accidentally hits it.”
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Álvarez apologized on social media, writing on Wednesday: “These last few days I got carried away with the passion and the love I feel for my country and I made comments that were out of order so I want to apologize to Messi and the people of Argentina.
“Every day we learn something new and this time it was me who did.”
Argentina would go on to qualify top of its group after a 2-0 win over Poland.
Mexico defeated Saudi Arabia, but it was not enough. Because of Argentina’s 2-0 victory over Poland in a simultaneous match, Mexico failed to advance out of its group for the first time since 1978.
Mexico had reached the round of 16 at the last seven World Cups, which was tied with Brazil for the longest current streak.
