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Barcelona great Dani Alves slammed former teammate Lionel Messi back in 2019 for the Argentine's accusations of corruption in the CONMEBOL and them favoring Brazil. Messi's comments came in the wake of Argentina's third-place finish in the 2019 Copa America.
Argentina lost to Brazil by a 0-2 margin in the semi-finals before beating Chile 2-1 in the third-place playoff. Messi was sent off for an altercation with Chile midfielder Gary Medel in the third-place playoff, following which he boycotted the medal ceremony along with his teammates.
Dani Alves gave his opinion on Messi's accusations of the referees and CONMEBOL, telling SporTV's 'Bem Amigos':
"A friend is not always right just because he's a friend. You can say it in the heat of the moment, but I still won't agree."
"Firstly, he's disrespecting an institution such as the Selecao, in my view," he added. "Secondly, he's being disrespectful with several professionals who put a lot of things aside so they could be there fighting for a dream. I'm a friend who always tells the truth when it's due, and I think he was wrong for saying these things."
Brazil head coach Tite hit back at Lionel Messi as well, saying (via GOAL):
"The one I treated as extraordinary, as extraterrestrial, needs to have more respect and accept when he is beaten. We were harmed [by referees] in several games. We played fair against Argentina the whole time. I am being honest. He put huge pressure [on] because of his reputation."
Lionel Messi's comments that forced Dani Alves and Tite to hit back
Lionel Messi believed Argentina were hard done by the referees in both their semi-final against Brazil and the third-place playoff against Chile.
Messi said after the third-place match (via AS):
"We don't need to be part of the corruption that we've suffered at this tournament. Medel is always right at the limit. With a yellow that would have been the end of it for both of us, but well, maybe what I said recently had an impact.
"What's important is that the team finished well in the tournament. Maybe this was ordered and I ended up suffering because of what I said."
"Hopefully the referees and the VAR won't influence things and they let Peru compete, but I think that's unlikely," he added.
Brazil went on to win the competition, beating Peru 3-1 in the final.
