James Milner has detailed the moment Lionel Messi called him a 'donkey' after being clattered by the midfielder during Barcelona's 3-0 Champions League semi-final first-leg win in 2019.
Messi achieved immortality on Sunday evening when he led his Argentina side to a first World Cup at the fifth time of asking. The 35-year-old put on one of his most magical displays in Qatar, becoming the first player to score in every knockout round, his brace in the final helping him win the Golden Ball for the tournament's best player.
After seeing his side go 2-0 up and then concede twice in 90 seconds, Messi may have been forgiven for having flashbacks to another famous comeback for which he was on the wrong side of. The Argentinian was in his penultimate season at Barcelona back in 2019 when the Catalan side came to Anfield with a three-goal advantage heading into the second-leg of their Champions League semi-final.
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Ernesto Valverde's side were scintillating that evening at the Camp Nou, Messi the standout with a second-half brace, and the tricky Argentinian was especially fired up after being on the wrong end of a crunching challenge from Milner before half-time. Messi looked to square up to the industrious veteran, and speaking to Ben Foster in an interview for Amazon Prime , the now-37-year-old detailed the heated exchange that carried through to the tunnel during the break.
“He’s incredible, for me the best ever,” Milner told Foster when asked about a picture of the two coming to blows. “But if you let players like that have their own way and give them too much respect then they're going to run the game. Sometimes you have to let them know you’re there and try to knock them out of their stride.
“He didn't like it obviously and was giving me a bit in Spanish, calling me the word for ‘donkey’, which translates to someone who goes around kicking people. In the tunnel he was going mad at half-time saying ‘just because I megged you’.
“To be honest, he can say what he wants can’t he? It turned out nicely in the second leg.”
Turn out nicely it did indeed, with the return leg producing one of the Champions League's most famous comebacks as two goals each from Divock Origi and Georginio Wijnaldum turned the semi-final on its head. Liverpool went on to win 4-3 on aggregate, sending them into a final that they would eventually win 2-0 against Tottenham Hotspur.
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