Messi Banned For Three Months, Fined $50k

Lionel Messi has been suspended for a quarter of a year by the South American football decision body, CONMEBOL. He was suspended and charged $50k as a result of his remarks which connections the body for debasement during the 2019 Copa America in Brazil.

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The Barcelona/Argentina captain accused CONMEBOL after he was sent off the pitch following a fight alongside Chile's,Gray Medel at the Corinthians Arena, Sao Paulo on July 6. The referee decision makes it the second time Messi was red carded in his whole career, thus making him to avoid the podium with his teammates during the medal presentation

He was additionally later accused that he said “The action of the referee was lack of respect ”, “ That he didn’t want to be part of the corruption”, that is the reason he kept away from the medal ceremony in protest when he was interview by reporters.

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Be that as it may,the governing body at the time called the accusations by messi as "groundless" and "unacceptable," Thus prompting the Association to make use of Articles 7.1 and 7.2 subsections b), c), d) and f) of the CONMEBOL Disciplinary Regulations and Article 12.6 of the Disciplinary Regulation of the CONMEBOL against the five times world best player respectively.

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The suspension begins from today, August 3, and will keep going for 90 days ,notwithstanding Messi already been fined $1,500 and suspended from the first match of the South American World Cup qualifiers , due to his Copa America red card.

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However, Messi will be able to feature in the first qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. He will only miss three friendly games against Chile, Mexico and Germany for the Albiceleste.