Argentina were down to ten men. The World Cup final was slipping away. Lionel Messi appeared to have one last idea.

Enzo Fernández had just been dismissed late in normal time after receiving a second yellow card for a challenge on Pau Cubarsí.

The score remained 0-0, but Argentina were now facing extra time with one fewer player.

Moments later, Messi became involved in a heated exchange with Marc Cucurella.

The Spain defender briefly covered his mouth while speaking.

Messi immediately turned towards referee Slavko Vinčić, pointed at Cucurella and appeared to demand further punishment.

One problem

FIFA had introduced stricter guidance around players covering their mouths during confrontations, partly to prevent offensive remarks from being hidden from cameras.

But covering the mouth itself was not automatically a red-card offence. Officials would still need grounds to believe something abusive or discriminatory had actually been said.

The referee was not convinced.

Cucurella remained on the pitch.

Argentina remained down to ten.

Pundits weren’t impressed

Wayne Rooney described Messi’s appeal as an act of “desperation,” while Joe Hart and other pundits questioned the attempt to turn a brief exchange into a sending-off during the biggest match in football.

In fairness, Argentina were running out of options.

They had lost a midfielder.

They had not found a goal.

And Spain were increasingly in control.

Messi had spent most of his career finding solutions nobody else could see.

This time, he pointed one out to the referee.

The referee looked elsewhere.

Spain eventually won 1-0 after extra time, leaving Argentina without the trophy and Messi without the red card he had asked for.