World-class boxing champion Canelo Alvarez has threatened Argentine footballer Lionel Messi after the football ace appeared to kick the Mexico shirt after his side beat Mexico 2-0 in their World Cup Group C match on Sunday. 

A video from their celebration in the dressing room went viral on social media where a Mexico shirt can be seen on the floor near Messi, and at one point the Paris Saint-Germain star’s boot appears to brush the jersey – a gesture that Canelo found disrespectful.

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Threatening Messi, Canelo 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! I’m not talking about the country as a whole, just about the bulls**t that Messi did.”

Messi’s fans rallied behind their idol after Canelo’s tweet got a fair bit of attention and the latter was heavily trolled with memes and funny posts on Twitter. 

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“Mexican Professional Boxer Canelo Alvarez calls out Messi for disrespecting Mexico, says he better ‘Pray to God’ that he doesn’t find him in person. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi…” one person wrote, attaching a photo of Messi fast asleep on the couch. Similarly, another user tweeted a picture of former boxer Mike Tyson wearing an Argentina shirt, with the caption, If @Canelo comes within 100ft of Messi…”

One more wrote, “To fight Messi, Canelo will have to go through De Paul, DOES HE KNOW?” Another quipped, “Nobody knew this Mexican dude. So he wanted attention and used Messi to get attention. He tricked. Now some of Messi fans know him.
@Canelo Now go to sleep Canelo. Your propaganda job is done.” 

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Another user said, “You just one of the toxic Ronaldo Fans, just try to distract Argentina National team.” One more stated, “Canelo Alvarez needs to do his research on Messi because he is known to stay strapped.”

Argentina needs to beat group toppers Poland in their final fixture in order to secure a spot in the knockout stage. The two sides with meet on Wednesday to battle it out for the revered spot.