Lionel Messi has millions of fans around the world - but Sid Seixeiro doesn't appear to be one of them.

The Canadian pundit has been a vocal critic of Messi over the years and made international headlines in 2018 for a viral rant in which he criticised the Barcelona icon during the World Cup.

On the back of Argentina's humiliating 3-0 defeat to Croatia, Seixeiro embarked on an astonishing polemic against Messi where he was labelled as a 'fraud' for not succeeding internationally.

Viral rant about Messi

According to The Sun, Seixeiro said on Sportsnet: "Here is the fraud element of Messi that no-one wants to talk about, and I said fraud. Domestically, he's won everything there is to win at Barcelona.

"Here's how you know what Messi is about. When they were winning the best things at Barcelona, it was Messi, it was Xavi, Iniesta, David Villa. That was the team.

"When they would break from 2008 on and go their separate ways for major tournaments, Xavi and Iniesta and David Villa and all those Spanish guys from Barca, were winning tournaments.

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"Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, Euro 2012. Messi, the second he steps on a field without that core, is average.

"And you have seen it in Copa America's, you have seen it at World Cup's, he's now gone 675 straight minutes without scoring a World Cup goal.

"Because Xavi's not there, because Iniesta's not there, because David Villa's not there. And the best players I've ever seen in my life, can play with anybody."

ENTER GIVEAWAY

Seixeiro even went one step further by saying: "Cristiano Ronaldo can play with anybody - Michael Carrick sucks - Darren Fletcher sucks."

Now, we could go in-depth about why Seixeiro's surface-level claims that Messi is 'average' without Iniesta and Xavi, as well as Carrick and Fletcher being poor players, are downright ridiculous.

Messi has hit back in 2021

However, truth be told, they are so far wide of the mark that they aren't worth the time of day, but there was - at least at the time - some credence to the idea that Messi was underperforming for Argentina.

Well, the key word there is 'was' because the reason we're revisiting Seixeiro's viral rant is that Messi has made it look silly in 2021 by inspiring Argentina to Copa America glory this summer.

Messi simply cannot be called a 'fraud' and 'average' on the back of being named the best player and top goalscorer upon winning one of the most prestigious international tournaments in the sport.

Marry that to vastly over-performing in a declining Barca side over the last few years and switching things up with a Paris Saint-Germain move to feel that Xavi and Iniesta argument getting tireder and tireder.

Video of Messi's emphatic response

But even if prose and plaques aren't cutting it for you, then be sure to look at how Messi has responded to Seixeiro's criticism with this superb video from YouTuber 'SherAli EDITS' below:

Now that is what you call an emphatic reply.

Seixeiro still wasn't happy, though

But clearly Seixeiro still wasn't satisfied as the pundit tweeted after Argentina's triumph: "Congrats to Lionel Messi for finally reaching that unreachable star and winning a tournament with ten teams in it.

"Also, congrats to Messi for recording zero goals and zero assists in one of the most important games of his career. What a legend."

And by that token we should point out that Ronaldo didn't score in the Euro 2016 final and Portugal only actually won game a single game in 90 minutes across the entire tournament, right? Right???

Ultimately, whatever the reasoning might be, it's clear that Messi has one of his biggest haters and doubters in Seixeiro. For our money, though, he most certainly had the last laugh in 2021.