Video: Lionel Messi’s delayed noseache
Posted By Rob Parker on April 20, 2009
Just how many seconds does it take before the pain of a ball to the face hits you?
Barcelona star Lionel Messi had his renowned boyish good looks threatened when Getafe defender Mario Alvarez planted a clearance right on his conk. The Argentine initially appeared to be made of sterner stuff, looked around and pointed at the ball, before realising that Barca were holding onto a slender lead with five minutes to play and remembering just how much pain he was in.
He’s done it before and it just goes to show you that even the best of players cheat (let’s not forget Ronaldo and Gerrard in this example).
I wouldn’t call that cheating. It wasn’t a “dive” since there was ‘contact’, he was just waiting for the ball to go out of play to get treatment, rather than just stopping in his tracks, since it wasn’t a foul. And he would have to go to ground to alert the referee.