Argentina beat Paraguay 1-0 in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, and Antonio Sanabria spat on Lionel Messi during the game. Messi didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, though.

After a fight with Sanabria in the 85th minute of the game at Monumental Stadium on October 13, Messi turned around and left the field. The Paraguayan attacker spat at Messi right away. The Argentine scorer didn’t know that his opponent was doing this, but TV cameras caught the whole thing.

Messi didn’t hear about Sanabria’s behavior from his friends until he got back to the locker room, but he didn’t think much of it. In a short chat with Vivo channel after the game, he said, “It’s better to ignore this.”

He also said that he didn’t know who Sanabria was and didn’t want to make a fuss. He thought that if he did this, Sanabria would get more attention and tell other people about what happened.

In the 53rd minute, Messi came on the field. The scorer, who is 36 years old, almost scored twice with free kicks that hit the post. Messi just got back from an injury and played for Inter Miami in the MLS tournament. Messi has only played 72 minutes since the team got together in September.

The leader of Argentina also said, “I’m happy to play again.” “It’s hard to get into any game, but this one is especially tough.” We played well and won, especially in the first half.

Nicolas Otamendi scored the only goal for Argentina in the third minute, giving them a 1-0 win over Paraguay. After beating Ecuador 1-0 and Bolivia 3-0 in the first two games, Messi and his partners won their third straight game in the qualifying round. Messi scored in the game against Ecuador, but he didn’t play in the away game against Bolivia because he was hurt.

At the moment, Argentina has nine points, two more than second-place Brazil in the 2026 World Cup qualifying round in South America. At the same time, Paraguay fell to eighth place with just one point after three games. There are ten teams in the South American qualifying round. The top six teams go straight to the final round. The seventh-placed team has to fight for tickets with teams from other continents.

Chile, which is placed ninth, will have Argentina as a guest on their field on October 17. Also, Paraguay goes back home to play Bolivia, which is the worst team in the world.

Sanabria plays for Torino in Serie A. He moved there from Betis in 2021. From 2009 to 2013, the 27-year-old Paraguayan striker trained at Barcelona’s La Masia oven. Sanabria played 10 games for Barcelona B and scored three goals in the 2013–2014 season. He then went to Italy to play for Sassuolo.