“Speak to me properly, don’t be disrespectful”, Messi told Portuguese referee João Pinheiro, 38, in the middle of the 2026 World Cup quarterfinal in Kansas City. The Argentina captain held nothing back, but the referee did not show a card either.
Months later, Pinheiro justified himself on a television program: “We don’t have to show yellow cards for everything. We can understand each other by talking”.
And he went further: he compared the clash to what happens “perfectly normally, even healthily” in the Champions League and in his own league.
That same match ended with Breel Embolo’s controversial sending-off for a second yellow after a VAR review that knocked out the Swiss side… and with Argentina advancing 3-1 in extra time.
The IFAB later acknowledged that the refereeing benefited La Albiceleste. Sporting justice or leniency toward the No. 10?