Lionel Messi involved in furious argument with referee after Inter Miami game and he had to be 'restrained' by coaching staff

Lionel Messi had one of the angriest moments of his career after Inter Miami drew 3-3 with San Jose Earthquakes in the MLS.

The Herons played away at PayPal park on Wednesday night, with Maximiliano Falcon opening the scoring a minute in before Tadeo Allende bagged a brace.

The Supporters' Shield holders find themselves fifth in the table after dropping further points following a 4-1 defeat to Minnesota at the weekend.

Frustrations set in for captain and talisman Messi, who was seething at the final whistle and confronted referee Joe Dickerson.

The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner appeared to be furious with the referee's decision to not award him a free-kick outside the box and told him what he thought about it after the game.

The referee was having none of his protests and promptly showed him a yellow card.

Lionel Messi avoided red card after San Jose Earthquakes got involved

But the Barcelona legend was still not happy and went back to the official for further remonstrating. An animated Messi ran the risk of being shown an almost unprecedented red card, with Dickerson telling him, "Do you want me to send you off? Walk away!”.

But he had to be held back by members of the San Jose Earthquakes coaching staff, with Earthquakes boss Bruce Arena making the decision to step in a bid to stop Messi being sent off.

Lionel Messi encarándose con el árbitro tras acabar el partido con tarjeta amarilla.

Es el protegido de los árbitros 🥶🥶🤐 pic.twitter.com/S7LvCvawol

— REAL MADRID FANS 🤍 (@AdriRM33) May 15, 2025

Speaking after the game in a press conference, Arena said: "As you know, there’s a universal language when you’re talking about referees. He was obviously not happy.

"And I really wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to get a red card, and that’s why I just tried to move him out of the way. Because for him to get a red card at the end of the game would have been ridiculous. So I just wanted to make sure we get him out of there and he’s ready to play the next game for Miami.”

Inter boss Javier Mascherano, who played with Messi for Barcelona and Argentina, didn't offer much of a response to the heated situation and said he had "no idea" what was said.

Without Luis Suarez for the past two games due to personal reasons, Inter return to action on Sunday when they host Orlando City at the Chase Stadium.