Orlando City coach Oscar Pareja has criticized “the circus” around Lionel Messi after his team’s 3-1 loss to Inter Miami in the Leagues Cup on Wednesday, which he says was marred by errors arbitration.
“The attention that is focused on us with all that, it becomes a circus,” said the coach, judging that the match itself had been “a circus”.
“Leo Messi should have had two yellow cards. I don’t care if it’s Messi. This influences the game. The match must be fair and that was not the case on the pitch,” Pareja said at a press conference.
He felt that the Argentinian, author of a double, should have been sanctioned a second time and excluded, after receiving a first warning in the 21st minute.
“We take responsibility. It’s okay, we lost. We are frustrated but we cannot ignore this kind of situation,” said the former Colombia coach.
He also considered “incredible” the penalty which allowed Miami to lead 2 to 1 after a foul on the Venezuelan Josef Martinez.
Inter Miami have qualified for the round of 16 of the Leagues Cup, an annual competition between Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs and those of Liga MX, the Mexican first division. Inter Miami will face FC Dallas in Texas on Sunday.
