Viva Barca
Lionel Messi’s appeal against a four-match ban in World Cup qualifying for insulting a referee’s assistant was being heard by FIFA on Thursday (directing insulting words at at an assistant referee).
With the appeal set for Thursday, some had expected Messi to personally visit the hearing to make his statement at FIFA HQ, although it is now believed that he will do so via video call.
Messi already served one match of the ban that was imposed when the FIFA disciplinary committee gave its ruling hours before Argentina’s 2-0 loss in Bolivia in March and next World Cup qualifier is at Uruguay on Aug. 31.
FIFA was able to ban Messi after match officials did not report the Argentina captain for verbally abusing a linesman late in a 1-0 win over Chile on March 23.
Messi is currently banned also for home games against Venezuela on Sept. 5 and Peru on Oct. 5. Argentina is fifth in the 10-team South American group with four games left. The 2014 World Cup runners-up are currently in line to advance to a November playoff against a team from Oceania, likely to be New Zealand.
