Messi picked up his first card in a Barcelona vest in his 753rd game for the club.
The red card was given for fouling Asier Villalibre in the dying moments of the Spanish Super Cup final between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
It was clear by then that Barcelona were going to lose 3-2.
Barcelona had twice taken the lead but each time Atletico had equalled taking the game to extra time.
And in the 120th minute of the game,with the scoreline reading 3-2 Asier ran across Messi when he was heading towards the Atletico goal and Messi gave him a well deserved whack to get him out of the way,
The ref missed it first but then checked on VAR.
Unreal how Messi not only has the best left foot in the world but also the best right hand… pic.twitter.com/ztBLNaqaiE
— 🇲🇽 (@FutbolFax) January 17, 2021
It didn’t matter that Asier was not actually playing the ball when he tried to impeded Messi’s goalward progress and also that he attempted to push Messi first.
The law (which is an ass) states that players are not allowed to do what Messi did.
It doesn’t look so bad in slow motion..
Messi'nin kırmızı kart gördüğü ve 12 maç cezayı gündeme getiren söz konusu olan o pozisyon ; pic.twitter.com/OwesO3u8zE
— BiGoLBe (@bigolbecom) January 17, 2021
But Messi is probably going to get a lengthy ban and Barcelona’s fortunes are going to go south till he gets back.