Lionel Messi was asked if he knows the rules of football by referee Gil Manzano during Real Madrid vs Barcelona on Saturday evening. The Catalan giants slipped to a 2-1 defeat against their bitter rivals in 'El Clasico' and it could spell the end of their La Liga title hopes. Controversy towards the end of the game saw Barcelona denied a penalty after Martin Braithwaite appeared to be pulled down by Ferland Mendy. Manzano saw nothing in the challenge and it wasn't reviewed by VAR. It has now been claimed he had words with Barcelona captain Messi and per Sport-FM, the Argentine superstar said: "Referee show respect, speak well." That was met with a reply of: "Do you know the rules of football or not? If you don't, then I'll explain them to you later."
Another interesting wrinkle in this saga is that Manzano is the only referee in Spain to give Messi a red card in his career. The six-time Ballon d'Or winner was given his marching orders in a Copa del Rey clash vs Athletic Bilbao for a 'punch' on Asier Villalibre back in January. Messi wasn't the only Barca star to take issue with the referee's performance however. Gerard Pique was only on the bench but still deemed it necessary to approach the referee at full-time. Luka Modric noticed he was queuing up for the referee and footage picked up the Croatian mocking his opponent, asking "You're waiting for the ref to complain, huh?" First half strikes from Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos were enough to seal a win for Zinedine Zidane's side, who are top of the table with Atletico Madrid yet to play this weekend. Barcelona did grow into the game and grab a goal through Oscar Mingueza. But they couldn't find an equaliser with teenager Ilaix Moriba smashing his shot against the crossbar late on.
Source: Sport Bible