Lionel Messi was not happy with how things went down for Argentina during the recently concluded Copa América, in which he was unable -again- to lift a title with La Albiceleste.
The footballer showed his frustration by "revealing" a corruption scheme by CONMEBOL to help Brazil in their efforts to win the South American competition. Nevertheless, his comments did not go down well among CONMEBOL execs, who threatened to hand Messi a two-year ban from all their tournaments, which include the 2020 Copa América and the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers.
With that in mind, Messi was urged to issue an apology by the Argentine Football Association (AFA), in order to prevent a lengthy ban. The document was submitted to CONMEBOL last week via AFA execs, with the letter made public by an officer in charge of investigating Messi's words, who spoke to AP earlier today.
According to the anonymous informant, Messi "clarified" his words by stating his words were aimed at the referees, not to CONMEBOL itself or its officers," the officer added.
CONMEBOL will make a decision regarding Messi's statements and sanction in the next few weeks. With this apology, the ban should be reduced to only two games, mainly because of the straight red he picked up during the third-place match against Chile.
