Malaga defender Weligton claims he grabbed Lionel Messi by the throat because the Barcelona forward had insulted him by calling him a ‘son of a bitch.’ Weligton was shown a yellow card late on in Wednesday’s 0-0 draw for an incident which left Messi on the floor.
The defender appeared to initiate contact with a minor shoulder-to-shoulder bump, before briefly grasping the Argentina captain by the throat and pushing him backwards.
However, Weligton says he only reacted and confronted Messi because of the words that his opponent had initially said to him.
‘A minute before Messi tried to play a one-two, I tried to block him with my arm,’ Weligton told Cadena SER. ‘He thought I caught him in the face, but it was by accident. You can see from the images. He got angry and came at me, calling me a ‘son of a bitch.’ That was when I caught him by the throat.’
The pair did not discuss the incident after the game and the Malaga man says there was nothing left to talk about.
‘There was no need to talk with him afterwards,’ Weligton said. ‘If he wants to talk to me then no problem, if I make a mistake then I recognise it and apologise. But if he acts another way, then no problem either.’
-With New Age input
