Uruguayan player Manuel Ugarte recently made headlines after making some obscene gestures towards Argentine defender Rodrigo De Paul, prompting all sorts of reactions including Lionel Messi himself in a viral video
Manuel Ugarte performed the obscene gesture towards De Paul during the recent 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying match.
Manuel Ugarte calls Rodrigo de Paul a c*cksucker of Lionel Messi, fight video goes viral
๐ฆ๐ท Leo Messi on tension with Uruguay players: โI prefer not to say what I think about some gestures. But these young people have to learn to respect from their eldersโ.
โThis game was always intense and hard but always with a lot of respect. They have to learn a little bitโ. pic.twitter.com/RQEjhFzhJp
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) November 17, 2023
Ugarte called De Paul โMessiโs c**k suckerโ LMAOpic.twitter.com/YBle24dLi5
— Dr Yash ๎จ (@YashRMFC) November 17, 2023
Manuel Ugarte is a Uruguayan professional footballer who currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain as a defensive midfielder.
Manuel Ugarte makes obscene gestures towards Rodrigo De Paul
The incident took place during the first half of the Argentina vs. Uruguay 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier match. While Uruguay secured a 2-0 victory over Argentina, defensive midfielder Ugarte decided to trigger his opponents by making an obscene gesture. As the players from the two teams started to fight for reasons unclear, several Argentine players pushed Ugarte, who eventually made some obscene gestures towards Rodrigo de Paul while saying some vulgar stuff and also mentioning Lionel Messi in the process. Following the incident, the video of the same went viral across social media.
According to an X user:
Ugarte said what everyone would have said to de paul if they had a chance to face him, only relevant thing in his career is by posting pics with Lionel Messi ๐ญ acting like his bodyguard and sucking his d”ckโ
In general, there were several confrontations throughout the game, where one clip showed Messi grabbing a Uruguayan player’s neck.
Lionel Messi reacts to Manuel Ugarteโs obscene gesture
Following the controversial incident, Messi reacted to Ugarteโs vulgar gesture, stating that youngsters need to learn to respect the senior players while also playing the game with respect. When asked about the incident, Messi replied:
I prefer not to say what I think about some gestures. But these young people have to learn to respect from their elders. This game was always intense and hard but always with a lot of respect. They have to learn a little bit.โ
The match between the two sides ended with a 2-0 victory for Uruguay over Argentina, who top the qualifying standings. Argentina will now be looking to face off against Brazil in Rio de Janeiro in the next match.