Lionel Messi was the man of the hour after the game between Brazil and Argentina. The bitter rivalry saw "La Pulga" taking control of the game in ways most of his rivals frowned upon.
One of those rivals that voiced his thoughts on Messi's general behavior was Thiago Silva, who blamed Messi of using his status as a worldwide superstar to influence the outcome of any game. How? By making refs do whatever he wants.
"He wants to dictate how the game goes. He hit two of our players with the ball and the ref did nothing. The ref tried to tell him something about it and he was just laughing. They should stop looking up to him when they have to ref a game where he's playing," Silva said.
The Brazilian ace did not stop there, and he even hinted that his success in La Liga has something to do with this behavior.
"He's always trying to make the ref give his team free kicks and fouls. We've spoken to some La Liga players and he does the same thing, he tries to control the game by making you guys focus on what the ref does or doesn't do," Silva added.
But the harshest dig on Messi was the one that had to do with the player's lack of success in recent UEFA Champions League editions.
"He does not have that same advantage when playing the UEFA Champions League, because refs are tougher. Maybe that's why he hasn't won it recently. Refs look up to him and they tend to take his side," Silva said.
The game between the two football titans ended in a 1-0 win for Argentina, with Messi scoring the game-winning goal.