It was July 2007, 14 years ago. There was a game in Venezuela between Mexico and Argentina. It was a semi-final as the previous day Brazil qualified for the finals. Argentina wanted to be in the finals against their bitter rival at all costs and needed a win against Mexico. In the end, it was an easy 3-0 for the Gauchos. But just at the end of the game, one of the scorers touched the ball with his hand, and hand balling is a yellow card by definition. Except that it would mean a second yellow card for the Argentine player wearing number 18. His name was Lionel Messi. Messi reveals how Pep made his Olympics dreams come true by confronting BarcaBut, the Chilean international referee Carlos Chandia decided to be lenient to him as Messi would have to skip the finals if he gets a red card. Fourteen years later, the referee admitted that he ’forgave’ Messi a yellow card, but the Argentinian didn’t leave the field totally free.”Messi already had a yellow card and I gave three minutes of added time. Argentina were leading 3-0 and Messi came out of nowhere to try to win the ball and touched it with his hand. But the action was taking place in midfield. There was no chance that Mexico would have a goal-scoring opportunity. I didn’t caution him because there were 2 minutes 30 left to play. I didn’t want to prevent him from playing in the final” the former Chilean official said in an interview with ESPN.I’m enjoying as if these were my last battles, but I’ll keep playing for ArgentinaSo, he decided to let him go, but he wanted something in return.”This foul is worth a yellow card but it will cost you your jersey. He left it for me in my locker room. He even wanted to take it off on the pitch. I told him: ‘No, no, no, no!'” recalled Chandia. But, apart from a shirt he got, nothing good came out of this situation for both the referee and the player. Carlos Chandía lost all his chances of refereeing the Copa America final between Brazil and Argentina since he failed to issue a obvious yellow card and Messi did play in the final, but Brazil won the trophy by a 3-0 score. ##NAJAVA_MECA_8350713##
