With Messi’s farewell just hours away, Benin decided to stir things up ahead of the match.
Steve Mounié, forward and captain of the African national team, said in an interview with the Argentine newspaper Olé that Argentinians “like to play dirty”. And he didn’t stop there: he claimed that “it’s a specialty of South American teams; they like to get inside your head” and that “the entire Argentine team is like that”.
The 32-year-old forward, now at German club Augsburg, based his opinion on his encounters with Leonardo Balerdi, when he was playing for Brest and the defender for Olympique de Marseille. According to his account, Balerdi grabbed his arm and shook him; he responded by hitting him in the chest, and the Argentine fell to the ground. “I was shown a red card because of him”, he recalled. This is only Mounié’s version: neither Balerdi nor Argentina have responded.
Even so, he made it clear they aren’t traveling for a vacation: Benin is coming “to celebrate”, but won’t play “it as just a friendly”, because “everyone is going to watch this match”.
It will be at the Monumental, in the early hours between Tuesday and Wednesday, with Messi playing his last match for the Albiceleste. Provocation or simple honesty?