Besides being one of the best footballers on the planet Lionel Messi is also a responsible philanthropist and regularly engages in charitable activities. He made one similar gesture during an interview with Media outlet MBC.
The Argentine donated a pair of his boots to Egypt on the show but received criticism for it almost immediately. The reason for this was because of a cultural belief in the Arab world regarding the donation of boots.
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According to the belief, shoes and boots are a sign of disrespect towards an individual because they are unclean, and hitting someone with a pair of boots is considered a serious insult. A few journalists and spokesmen of the country voiced their discontent at the Barcelona forward.
One of those journalists was Lawmaker and TV presenter Said Hasasin who didn’t hold back when giving his opinion. He said, “The Egyptians have never been so humiliated during our 7000 years of civilisation. I will hit you with my shoe, Messi. This is my shoe, I donate it to Argentina”
But that wasn’t the end of it. While Lionel Messi was giving his interview on MBC a spokesperson from the Egyptian FA phoned the show to criticize the footballer. He said, “We don't need his work shoes and we don't need charity. Give your shoes to your country, Argentina is full of poverty.”
Lionel Messi is not known to hold a grudge but he definitely would have been affected by the comments made about him. But there was one person who took his side and supported Messi for his gesture.
That person was former Egyptian and Tottenham striker Mido. The retired international tweeted in support of the superstar. The tweet was written in Arabic but this is what it roughly translates to:
The original tweet in Arabic is also given below:
After the show received that phone call, the host Mona El-Sharwaky, also came to Messi’s defense and clarified the reason for the gesture saying,“On our program we ask our guests for something to put up for auction for solidarity. Messi never said he was going to give his boots to Egypt as charity.”
