{"id":609001,"date":"2026-02-22T22:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T22:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/609001\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T22:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T22:00:13","slug":"lionel-messi-cleared-by-mls-review-after-appearing-to-try-to-confront-referees-in-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/609001\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi cleared by MLS review after appearing to try to confront referees in video"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Major League Soccer says Lionel Messi did not violate league policy when he followed referees through a door after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7063245\/2026\/02\/22\/messi-son-inter-miami-lafc-mls-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Inter Miami\u2019s 3-0 loss to LAFC<\/a> on Saturday night in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>MLS reviewed the matter after a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/gioxguerrero\/status\/2025450930628649228\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">video<\/a>, posted by S\u00edntesis Deportes reporter Giovanni Guerrero, appeared to show Messi attempting to confront referees in the bowels of the LA Memorial Coliseum shortly after the match.<\/p>\n<p>In the video, Luis Su\u00e1rez, Messi\u2019s longtime friend and teammate, attempts to restrain Messi. Despite Su\u00e1rez\u2019s tugs at Messi\u2019s arm, though, Messi disappears through the door. Eight seconds later, he re-emerges and walks with other Inter Miami players toward their locker room.<\/p>\n<p>An MLS spokesperson, however, told The Athletic that the door in the video was not to the referees\u2019 locker room, and Messi did not enter a restricted area.<\/p>\n<p>The league\u2019s review found no violations, and the case, therefore, is effectively closed.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Rivett, a spokesman for the Professional Referee Organization (which manages referees across all professional soccer in the U.S. and Canada) told The Athletic via email: \u201cAfter speaking with the match officials, we can confirm Lionel Messi did not enter the officials\u2019 locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Spokespeople for Inter Miami, LAFC and the Professional Soccer Referees Association \u2014 the labor union that represents MLS referees \u2014 did not immediately respond to messages Sunday morning seeking comment.<\/p>\n<p>Messi, Inter Miami\u2019s captain, frequently speaks to referees, but has never been fined or suspended by MLS for confronting or berating them.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/inter-miami-s-messi-suarez-fined-by-mls-disciplinary-committee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">he was fined<\/a> \u201cfor violating the hands to the face\/head\/neck of an opponent policy\u201d after a game against New York City FC. He was also suspended for one match last summer after he skipped the MLS All-Star game. But those were unrelated to conduct toward referees.<\/p>\n<p>Messi, barring an unforeseen twist, will be eligible for Inter Miami\u2019s next match on Sunday, March 1, against Orlando. He and Miami then travel to face D.C. United in Baltimore on March 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Major League Soccer says Lionel Messi did not violate league policy when he followed referees through a door&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":609002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2841,51,6074,6656,50,221,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-609001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-argentina","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-inter-miami-cf","11":"tag-mls","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-soccer","14":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116116535874106532","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}