Spanish media outlets have blamed the Argentine Football Association for the cancellation of the Finalissima Cup match against Spain.
The match was scheduled to take place on March 27 at Lusail Stadium, but the ongoing situation in the Middle East led to Qatar withdrawing its offer to host the game.
According to the newspaper AS, UEFA presented several proposals to Argentina for hosting the match, but the Argentine officials rejected them all.
Regarding the venue, UEFA proposed a home-and-away format, with one match in Madrid and the other in Buenos Aires. The final proposal was to hold the match at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium with a 50/50 split of the stadium.
Despite all these efforts, the Argentine Football Association rejected the idea outright, and with the match date approaching and no solution in sight, the parties involved decided to cancel the match.
Surprisingly, the stadium wasn’t the only major obstacle; Argentina’s coach, Lionel Scaloni, was also keen to avoid the match, a key factor in his country’s federation’s determination to sabotage the agreement.
Scaloni expressed concern about playing such a high-profile match so close to the World Cup, and Messi himself wasn’t particularly interested, focusing instead on personal commitments.
Meanwhile, the president of the Argentine Football Association, Claudio Tapia, received warnings against traveling to Spain due to ongoing tax evasion investigations in his country, which could potentially lead to his arrest in Spain.
