While FIFA is the world’s biggest authority on international football it’s safe to say that the organization hasn’t always been adored by fans of the beautiful game.
From corruption cases to some very questionable governing decisions, the regulatory body has had some bad blood with fans for some time now.
The already fragile relationship seems to have taken another hit after some supporters noticed how FIFA made some big errors regarding Lionel Messi’s goal scoring hauls in the knockout stages of last season’s Champions League.
Messi took Europe’s golden boot home by some margin (12 goals), scoring braces in all of the knockout stage ties before Barcelona was ousted by Liverpool in the semi-final stage.
But the administrators working behind FIFA’s official website clearly didn’t check the numbers well enough before publishing an article about each player’s qualifications for the Best awards for 2019 and goofed up details about Messi’s scoring feats during the knockout stages of the European competition.
Making errors about Messi’s exploits in not just one but all 3 of Barca’s ties last year has irked several fans on Twitter with some even exploring the possibility of a greater conspiracy taking place to play down Messi’s claims to win the Men’s Player category in the upcoming Best FIFA awards.
On the official FIFA website, they state that Messi scored only one goal in the Semi-Finals of the Champions League vs Liverpool, and only one goal against Lyon. While he scored 2 goals against both clubs.
— AFC Ajax 💎 (@TheEuropeanLad) September 11, 2019
This is actually getting disgraceful. We are talking about FIFA here. pic.twitter.com/E3hspOZwco
The most infuriating part is that FIFA doesn’t even try to hide their Messi agenda. It’s so blatantly obvious. And it’s scary because they really don’t give a damn.
— BarcAddicts 🕯 (@BarcAddicts) September 11, 2019
