Lionel Messi faces Bolivia suspension after foul-mouthed rant

Linesman Marcelo Vangasse was verbally abused by the Barca star against Chile, an incident that has been reported to governing body CONMEBOL

Posted Tuesday, March 28, 2017 by Goal.com

Argentina captain Lionel Messi could face suspension for Tuesday's World Cup qualifier against Bolivia after being reported for a foul-mouthed outburst.

Messi scored the only goal of Thursday's 1-0 win over Chile, hitting from the spot after referee Sandro Ricci gave a dubious penalty for a push on Angel Di Maria.

But the Barcelona star was enraged by linesman Marcelo Van Gasse in the second half, verbally abusing the official.

"F*** off, your mother's c***," he screamed at Van Gasse, before refusing to shake his hand at the final whistle.

And while the incident was not included in the officials' original report, it was added on Monday and sent to CONMEBOL.

The governing body's disciplinary committee will now have to decide what punishment to hand down to Messi and, more importantly, when it should come into effect.

Should Messi be immediately suspended, he would miss the clash with Bolivia in La Paz, although a prospective appeal could yet see him take the field.

CONMEBOL could also order the suspension to come into effect after the current international window, in which case Messi would miss at the very least August's visit to Uruguay in the next round of qualifiers.

Finally, the committee could yet opt to disregard the amendment to the match report and allow Messi's outburst to pass without punishment.

Argentina currently lie third in the CONMEBOL qualifiers, behind Brazil and Uruguay.