Lionel Messi has been criticised for meeting United States President Donald Trump and applauding his latest brief on the Iran war at an White House event honouring the Argentinian superstar and his Inter Miami team.<\/p>\n
Messi drew high praise from Trump in Washington, DC on Thursday, but the Miami captain received backlash on social media for meeting and applauding the US president.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Miami beat the Vancouver Whitecaps in December for the Major League Soccer (MLS) title, and Messi was named the league\u2019s MVP for the second consecutive season.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my distinct privilege to say what no American president has \u2060ever had the chance to say before: \u2018Welcome to the White House, Lionel Messi,’\u201d Trump said as the 38-year-old stood beside him.<\/p>\n \u201cLeo, you came in and you won, and that\u2019s something very hard to do, very, very unusual and frankly, there\u2019s a lot more pressure put on you than anyone would know, because you sort of expected to win, but almost nobody wins.\u201d<\/p>\n Messi, who entered the ceremony alongside Trump, joined Inter Miami in mid-2023 to great fanfare. He did not speak during the event, which opened with comments on military action with Trump addressing the war with Iran, extending the political address to highlight the situation in Venezuela and a possible future announcement regarding Cuba and tariffs.<\/p>\n Trump began with a boast about the US and Israel\u2019s ongoing attacks on Iran, which were launched on Saturday and have killed 1,230 people.<\/p>\n Tehran responded by launching waves of missiles and drones at Israel and towards several military bases in the Middle East where US forces operate.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States military, together with the wonderful Israeli partners, continues to totally demolish the enemy, far ahead of schedule and at levels that people have never seen before,\u201d \u2060Trump said as Messi stood next to him.<\/p>\n The president concluded by saying: \u201cOur people are doing a great job, again \u2013 the greatest military anyone has ever.\u201d<\/p>\n His words met with applause from Messi, the Miami squad, and others present in the room.<\/p>\n However, the former Barcelona forward swiftly became the subject of criticism on social media, where he was slammed for being drawn into politics and applauding Trump as he boasted of the US military\u2019s action in Iran.<\/p>\n Referencing video clips of the event, Palestinian-American writer Ali Abunimah wrote: \u201cVacuous selfish people\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cLionel Messi CLAPS when President Trump talks about his plan to defeat Iran. Messi fans?\u201d the account Halal Nation \u2013 founder of the Halal Tribune with a purported 500,000 subscribers -wrote on X.<\/p>\n Spanish journalist Leyla Hamed termed Messi and his team\u2019s actions \u201cbizarre\u201d amid the ongoing conflict across the Middle East.<\/p>\n \u201cDonald Trump casually announces more illegal bombing of Iran in front of the entire Inter Miami squad,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Hamed pointed out that hundreds of children have been killed in Iran in the last few days.<\/p>\n The deadliest single incident, which occurred in the city of Minab in southeastern Iran on Saturday, killed 165 girls in an elementary school.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump knows exactly what he\u2019s doing by using these athletes, and they allowed themselves to be dragged into it,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s the point of having so much influence and power if you can\u2019t use it in moments like this.<\/p>\n \u201cTo think most of these players have children\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n A US football fan account on YouTube, Tactical Manager, also reacted to Messi and Miami\u2019s presence in the White House. Messi\u2019s former Barcelona strike partner, Luis Suarez, was also present.<\/p>\n \u201cI never thought I\u2019d live to see Donald Trump talking about bombing another country with Messi and Suarez in the background,\u201d the account wrote.<\/p>\n Several other fans and fan groups expressed their displeasure.<\/p>\n Trump seemingly used the ceremony to bring together athletic prowess and military \u2060might.<\/p>\n The president surveyed the squad before pausing to single out Argentinian midfielder Rodrigo De Paul, and asked: \u201cDo you have any bad-looking players?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t like good-looking men,\u201d Trump joked, \u201cYou \u2060don\u2019t feel so good about yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n Addressing Messi \u2013 who famously avoids speaking out on politics \u2013 the president brought the conversation back to sport.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could have gone anywhere in the world. You could have chosen any team in the world, and you chose to go to Miami. I don\u2019t blame you. The weather\u2019s extremely good. Do you go to Doral? You go to Doral and play golf?\u201d Trump said, referencing a golf course he owns.<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to thank you for bringing us all on this ride, because you are hot and talented and a great person.\u201d<\/p>\n Messi, an eight-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner, led Argentina to the World Cup title in 2022. He is expected to play again for Argentina this summer when the tournament is hosted by Canada, Mexico and the US.<\/p>\n However, football\u2019s global showcase has been clouded by recent events, including the conflict in the Middle East and turmoil in Mexico following the death of cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera in a military operation.<\/p>\n Having opened the ceremony with comments about the conflict with Iran, Trump did not mention the World Cup.<\/p>\n Messi presented a signed Inter Miami football to Trump, who went on to reveal the affection his 19-year-old son Barron has for Messi.<\/p>\n \u201cMy son said, \u2018Dad, \u2060you know who\u2019s going to be there today?\u2019 I said, \u2018No, I got a lot of things going on today,’\u201d Trump said. \u201cHe said \u2018Messi!\u2019 He\u2019s a big fan of yours. He thinks you\u2019re just a great person. And I think you got to meet a little \u200cwhile ago. So he\u2019s a big soccer fan, but he\u2019s a tremendous fan of yours. And a gentleman named Ronaldo. Cristiano is great. You\u2019re great.\u201d<\/p>\n Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi\u2019s longtime rival in European football, attended a White House event with Trump last year.<\/p>\n Wading \u2060into the area of football history, Trump said to Messi, \u201cYou may be better than Pele,\u201d and he asked those in attendance, \u201cWho\u2019s better?\u201d<\/p>\n Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas and coach Javier Mascherano presented the US president with a \u200cteam jersey \u200cand watch.<\/p>\n Miami are the first MLS team to be invited to the White House during Trump\u2019s two terms in office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lionel Messi has been criticised for meeting United States President Donald Trump and applauding his latest brief on the Iran war at an White House event honouring the Argentinian superstar and his Inter Miami team. Messi drew high praise from Trump in Washington, DC on Thursday, but the Miami captain received backlash on social media […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Messi presents Trump with signed Inter Miami ball<\/h2>\n
![\"Inter](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-03-05T232913Z_802014953_RC2LYJADKQI7_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-1772794163.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80\")
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