Lionel Messi Smacks The Ball At Real Madrid Fans But Doesn’t Mean It. Honest.

Lionel Messi has always been seen as the exception to the rule that to be a proper good footballer you needed to be a bit of a 'orrible git. You needed to like head-butting people (Zidane), make well-late tackles (Scholes), be outrageously arrogant (CR7), shag prozzies (Wayne), or just do loads of drugs (Maradona). Messi was simply a nice little lad who liked playing football really well.

No longer! During their 1-1 draw with Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, Lionel Messi went and smacked a ball right into the Real fans and received plenty back. His innocent face seems to suggest it was an accident but, as the Spanish press and a member of Team Spoiler have noted, if you do miss the advertising hoardings, surely your first move is to apologise?

The Spoiler says — deliberate! What do you reckon, you handsome lot?

This post, written by Richard Anderson, is republished with permission from The Spoiler. Go there often if you like soccer stuff.