MEXICO captain Andres Guardado has declared Canelo Alvarez’s beef with Lionel Messi is “silly”.
Boxing superstar and proud Mexican Canelo threatened Messi after he appeared to kick a Mexico shirt following Argentina’s 2-0 win over their World Cup rivals.
Canelo took offence having seen footage of the Argentina captain seeming to make contact with the kit while leading the dressing room celebrations.
But Mexico skipper Guardado has leapt to Messi’s defence.
The 36-year-old, appearing at his fifth World Cup, swapped shirts with the Argentina captain after the game.
And Guardado told TyC Sports: “I know the person Messi is.
“It’s a deal with the staff that when it’s all sweaty, it gets left on the floor. Be it your jersey or rival.
“Canelo doesn’t know what a dressing room is.
“It seems silly to me. That shirt was mine, I exchanged it with Leo.”
Four-weight world champion Canelo initially hit out at Messi for not showing “respect” to Mexico.
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He tweeted: “Did you guys see Messi cleaning the floor with our jersey and flag.
“He better pray to God that I don’t find him. Just like I respect Argentina, he has to respect Mexico!”
Messi’s ex-Argentina team-mate Sergio Aguero and former Barcelona pal Cesc Fabregas both fired back at Canelo for his accusations.
Aguero tweeted: “Mr. Canelo, don’t look for excuses or problems, surely you don’t know about soccer and what happens in a locker room.
“The shirts are always on the floor after the games are over due to sweat and then if you see, he makes the movement to remove the boot and accidentally hits it.”
While Fabregas wrote: “You neither know the person, nor do you understand how a locker room works or what happens after a game.
“All shirts, even the ones we wear ourselves, go on the floor and are washed afterwards. And more when you celebrate an important victory.”
Argentina can qualify for the World Cup knockouts with victory over Poland tomorrow.
Mexico meanwhile have to beat Saudi Arabia and hope Poland come out on top against Argentina.
