Messi loses temper after Barca's collapse in Atletico Super Cup loss
Football
By
Mirror
| Jan 10, 2020
Joao Felix and Lionel Messi squared up to each other as tempers flared in Atletico Madrid's Super Cup victory over Barcelona on Thursday.
Atletico’s ace Felix appeared to have a gripe with Messi as they walked off the pitch just before half-time, with the game still deadlocked at 0-0.
They could be see going head to head before Barcelona defender Gerard Pique rushed in to separate them.
Other players followed soon after, and there was pushing and shoving between the two sets of players.
Things got a little chippy between Barcelona and Atlético Madrid. pic.twitter.com/7vVT6FB8J7
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Earlier in the match, Felix had appeared to lose his temper with Barca left-back Jordi Alba and could be seen slapping his hand away.
Atletico beat Barcelona 3-2 in Thursday's semi-final Jeddah, with two late goals setting up a showdown against Real Madrid in Sunday's final.
Atletico took the lead through Koke just moments into the second half.
Barca rallied through Messi and Antoine Griezmann - scoring his first goal against his old club - while the Catalans also had two efforts disallowed by VAR.
Alvaro Morata equalised from the penalty spot inside the last nine minutes, while Atleti were unlucky not to earn another spot-kick shortly afterwards, before Angel Correa scored the winner four minutes from the end.
The defeat for Barcelona turned up the pressure on head coach Ernesto Valverde after mixed results so far this season.
And Messi blasted his side's "childish" mistakes, insisting Barcelona should have seen the game out after taking a 2-1 lead.
"It is a shame, we played a great game, after so long we felt good again, we were in control, dominated and attacked all the time," Messi told reporters in quotes reported by Goal .
"We let it slip through certain mistakes when [Atletico] were already almost dead. In less than 10 minutes they turned round a game that we should have seen out.
"It hurts because it is a title and we wanted to be in the final and win it."
Messi added: "We do not want to make these childish mistakes again."