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Former Egypt international referee Ibrahim Nour El-Din has sparked controversy with inflammatory comments about star Lionel Messi, claiming he received “the most referee protection in the history of football” and insisting the Argentina captain deserved to be sent off against Algeria at the 2026 World Cup.
Speaking on Sport FM’s The Voice of the World Cup, Nour El-Din said referees influenced by a player’s value or stardom lose some of their fairness on the pitch, stressing that the application of the law should be the same for all players without exception.
The former Egyptian referee explained. “During one of the refereeing lectures with international expert Mark Clattenburg, we analyzed the interventions and behavior of some players and found that Messi committed fouls and actions that required a red card several times during the World Cup matches in Qatar.”
“Messi is the most referee-protected player in the history of football, and a referee who puts a particular player in his considerations, regardless of his status, loses a large part of his fairness in officiating the game.”
Nuredin continued his exciting statements, saying: “Messi should have been sent off in the Argentina-Algeria match, and if that had happened, he would not have participated in the next match. Not getting sent off gave him the chance to continue, so after the incident against Algeria he scored twice to complete a hat-trick, then took part in two more goals and scored.”
Noureddine referred to the case of French legend Zinedine Zidane’s dismissal in the 2006 World Cup final, stressing that the star of the French football player was no less than Messi at that time, but the referee did not hesitate to show him the red card.
“If the referee had sent Messi off at that time, it would have gone down in history as one of the most famous red cards in terms of marketing and craftsmanship for the world’s number one player.”
