Lionel Messi hasn’t made the greatest start to the 2020/21 season.The Argentine was linked with a sensational move away from Barcelona all summer but eventually stayed at Camp Nou.After a summer of speculation, though, the Argentine hasn’t exactly hit the ground running scoring three goals in seven appearances ahead of Barcelona’s trip to Alaves.And his frustrations continued in the first half against Alaves.Barca found themselves 1-0 down following Luis Rioja’s strike for the home side.And things just weren’t falling for Messi and decisions weren’t going his way.Frustrations soon boiled over for the six-time Ballon d’Or winner.After Frenkie de Jong was denied a penalty and Messi wasn’t given a foul for a foul outside the area, the Argentine lost his head.In a sign of protest, Messi booted the ball towards referee Alejandro Hernández. Fortunately for the Barca superstar, he narrowly avoided hitting the official - saving him a red card.It did earn him a yellow card but he can, perhaps, consider himself fortunate that it wasn’t worse.Check out the incident below:
Fans clearly believed Messi was fortunate to avoid a red card. Check out the reaction below:
Earlier this week, former Barca player and Argentine legend, Diego Maradona, admitted that Messi's situation at the Spanish club is going to 'end badly'.
"I knew it was going to end badly and I thought Leo was going to leave," Maradona told the Argentinian newspaper Clarin (via Marca). "It happened to me too.
"Barcelona is not an easy club and he has been there for many years and was not treated as he deserves.
"He gave them everything, he took them to the top and one day he wanted to leave to get a change of scenery and they said no."