Lionel Messi Defends His Teammates Who Are Cheated By Opponents, The Captain's Leadership Is Harvesting Praise

Inter Miami player and captain, Lionel Messi. (Photo: Twitter/@InterMiamiCF)

JAKARTA - Lionel Messi has been a concern since his move to Inter Miami. This time it was about his leadership as captain in the spotlight.

As team captain, Messi was firm in defending his team-mates who were rigged by the opponent. This can be seen in the 2023 Leagues Cup semifinal match between Inter Miami vs Philadelphia Union.

Messi appeared since the first minute of the match. In the match at Subaru Park, United States, Inter Miami qualified for the final after winning 4-1 from the opposing team.

In his appearance Wednesday, August 16, Messi scored one goal remotely for the team's victory. This moment clearly stole the attention of fans, but apart from that spectacular goal Messi also stole the show due to his leadership attitude on the pitch.

Quoted from ESPN FC's upload on Instagram, Messi was seen approaching and giving a stern warning to Philadelphia Union player Jose Martinez in the middle of the match. This was done by Messi to defend his teammate, the rigged Noah Allen.

Messi seemed to approach Martinez with a sharp gaze then uttered a sentence believed to be a warning. It was done by Messi because Martinez had previously committed a foul on Allen.

In the video, Allen, who was dribbled in a tackle and was pulled by Martinez until he fell. But when this situation happened, Martinez continued to kick the ball in Allen's body protection, not only that, Martinez also seemed to fight back as the 18-year-old tried to defend himself.

"Messi survives for her team-mates," wrote the description of the upload on the ESPN FC account.

Messi's attitude as team captain then reaped various comments from netizens. Many of them then praised what the Argentine did for his partner, calling Messi a real leader.

"Messi came to him after what he did to Allen. Bro he was the leader who defended his partner," wrote a netizen in the comments column.

"He defended Noah, captain of the (fire emoji) team," commented another netizen.

"What he did was the captain's real attitude," another netizen replied.