A hot ending was noted after the victory of Rayados de Monterrey about Inter Miami for 2-1. The gestures of the protagonists reflected that the spirits in the American team were not the best. In Mexico they claim that it was not simply annoyance over a defeat, but that some footballers from the MLS team went to recriminate some decisions made by the referee of the match and that Lionel Messi, who did not play the game, also went down to the locker room anteroom to join these protests. Most notably, chroniclers who covered the meeting affirm that the man from Rosario would have had a heated discussion with Fernando Ortizthe coach of the Mexican team.
According to Felipe Galindo, journalist from Multimedios Deportes, Messi, Luis Suárez, Gerardo Tata Martino and Jordi Alba went to the locker room area to chat with the Guatemalan referee Walter López, since they were upset with the added time and some fouls that he called that, in their opinion, harmed Inter Miami. Furthermore, in this medium they explained that at that moment Fernando Ortiz passed through the sector and Messi crossed paths with the Argentine coach and also with assistant Nicolás Sánchez. The captain of the Argentine team would have been upset with the Rayados coach for statements prior to the match in which he inferred that the refereeing could favor Messi’s team.
Fernando Ortiz had declared before the game that Rayados’ team was better than Miami’s, but according to the Mexican media, the strongest complaints came from these words of the Argentine coach: “Business is not going Monterrey’s way. We all know that, it’s not that I’m saying something we don’t all know. I understand the business, yes. I share it? No. Everything that surrounds Messi can lead to making sporting and non-sporting decisions.”. Logically, they asked Ortiz if he felt that he could harm his team because of this and the coach responded: “I don’t know if [nos van a] harm, but the business is not for us. Sportingly, we are going to win. Afterwards, I can’t handle other things.”
The versions multiplied on social networks. The Mexican media assure that Messi complained to the referees, while Alejandro Ruzal, special envoy of ESPN, explained that the Rosario did not speak with the Guatemalan judge, but that He did have some words with Ortiz and some of his collaborators regarding the coach’s statements before the match. Fox Sports journalist Fernando Schwart said that Rayados asked Concacaf to draw up a record of what happened, so this matter could continue in the future.
Even after the match, the journalists tried to find out some details of what happened and consulted the Argentine soccer player Jorge Cork Rodríguez who explained that he was not in the place because he had undergone anti-doping control. After the game he also spoke about Messi, coach Fernando Ortiz did not talk about a problem with the player from Rosario, but rather said: “We hoped he would be able to play, I have said it, he is the best in history, it was not possible, I hope he is back to enjoy it. It’s up to us to do what we can to get through, this is still open”.