
Lionel Messi appears to HEADBUTT Club World Cup opponent as tempers flare in Inter Miami's opening match
Inter Miami were held to a goalless draw by the Egyptian side in the early hours of Sunday morning.
4
4
The revamped 32-team tournament held in the US got off to a fiery start and Messi was at the centre of the controversy.
Inter Miami had a corner in the second-half and the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner waited in the box.
But before the ball came in, Messi lost his cool after something was seemingly said by Al-Ahly defender Yasser Ibrahim.
The pair then walked towards each other and squared up.
Messi appeared to deliberately knock his head into Ibrahim as they stood face-to-face before they were separated by team-mates.
Both players went unpunished and VAR did not review the incident.
Fans were left shocked, with one saying: "Messi is shameless."
JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS
But others disagreed, writing: "He puts his head forward into Messi - Messi was just acting in self defence after he was headbutted first."
It came during an ill-tempered match that saw five bookings, including ones for both Messi's old Barcelona pals Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez.
Group A is finely poised after Palmeiras and Porto also played out a 0-0 draw last night.
Inter Miami face the Portuguese side next on Thursday night.
4
4
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
16 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Aaron Rodgers mocks Joe Biden's mental decline when asked about his new Steelers teammates
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers jokingly compared himself to former President Joe Biden when talking about how his age has him feeling alienated from the rest of the league. Rodgers, the oldest active player in the NFL, recently watched from the sidelines as his new team beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-25. But the 41-year-old felt like there was no one he knew on the opposite team - and told reporters about his lack of connection with younger stars. 'One of the weird things is, I'm 21 years in the league, so I'm over there... "Who do I know on Jacksonville",' Rodgers remarked. 'I know Heath Farwell, a special teams coach I've played against him. I know [running backs coach] Chad Morton, he was with us [in Green Bay]. And I've met [quarterback] Trevor [Lawrence] a few times. 'I was kinda looking around, doing the Joe Biden like "alright well, I guess I don't know anybody here, I'm gonna just walk off",' Rodgers added, referring to a viral clip of the former President at an international conference looking 'lost' among foreign leaders. 'I found Cam [Heyward] and TJ [Watt] and walked next them.' Rodgers appeared to get injured in practice as well, getting stepped on at one point by a lineman on either side of the ball. ESPN's Brooke Pryor noted that Rodgers had a cut on the front of his right shin and that he took a break after the injury, but he later returned. While he's settled in now with the team, he hasn't settled on a new helmet to play in. For years, Rodgers had worn a Schutt Air XP Pro Q11 LTD. But now, that helmet has been banned by the NFL for failing to meet new safety standards. He's been practicing in a similar model - the Schutt Air XP Pro VTD II - but isn't happy with it. 'I don't like it, no,' the quarterback said on Tuesday (via ESPN). 'I'm trying to change. We're in the process still. It looks like a damn spaceship out there. 'We got to change it. The face mask doesn't fit the helmet because that's an old face mask, obviously just like I'm old, but we're trying to find the right helmet right now.'


Daily Mail
16 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Tom Brady gives brutally honest verdict on his first year as a NFL commentator
As his second year in the broadcast booth approaches, legendary NFL quarterback and current Fox Sports talent Tom Brady gave himself a brutally honest review for his journey thus far calling the NFL. Brady was handed a 10-year, $375million contract to be the No 1 color commentator for Fox's NFL coverage, with that span beginning last fall. His first season ended with calling the Philadelphia Eagles ' Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in front of a television audience of nearly 130million. Not bad for someone who was five months on the gig. Now, Brady has taken a look back at his journey as a commentator thus far. 'There was a lot of growing pains through the year for me, just in terms of prep and, obviously, going on-air, and there's things you messed up and there's things that you make mistakes,' Brady said on The Joel Klatt Show. 'And probably a lot like being an NFL quarterback. You think, "I'm prepared and I got and I practiced." You go into a real game in your rookie year, and you're like, "Oh my God, that's a lot faster. What am I doing?" It gets a little better in Week 2 and a little better in Week 3.' 'And sometimes you regress a little bit, and sometimes you do things you really like that impress you. And sometimes you're like you forgot completely going into Week 9, "How did I do that?" or "What was I talking about?"' Brady was under a microscope due to his level of celebrity, with every mistake being picked apart by detractors on the internet. The former Patriot and Buccaneer attempted to convey the knowledge gained from a 23-year NFL quarterback without taking over a broadcast. 'The tricky part for broadcasting is everybody likes something a little bit different,' Brady added. 'I think when you're broadcasting a game, the listener likes something different from everybody. They like your voice. They like your inflection. They like your technical parts, or they don't. 'They like or they don't like. Some like a little teaching. Some like entertainment. Some like personal stories. Some you're talking too much about yourself. Depending on who you ask, you get a lot of feedback. And I think that's the confusing part.' Time will tell how much Brady improves in his second season in the NFL, with now a full offseason to learn from how his rookie year in the booth transpired.


Reuters
17 minutes ago
- Reuters
Russia is suspected to be behind hack of US federal court filing system, New York Times reports
WASHINGTON, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Investigators have uncovered evidence that Russia is at least in part responsible for a recent hack of the computer system that manages U.S. federal court documents, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing several people briefed on the breach.