I’ve seen so many silly opinions regarding this and it’s funny how logic seems to disappear whenever Messi is involved. First, The rules clearly say that covering your mouth while talking to an opponent is a red card offense. Everyone is aware of this rule (which was introduced after Prestianni’s incident with Vini) but since it’s Messi, let’s all suddenly forget it exists. Second, a player on his team had just been sent off which makes the game uneven. As a captain it’s expected that he’d try to even things at any chance. Cucurella covering his mouth while talking to him presented that chance and he tried to take it but fortunately for one or unfortunately for the other, it’s one of those times where the rules lack consistency. The amount of narratives I’ve seen about this moment in the game is beyond disgusting. Even casuals who know nothing are having opinions. He’s been called names just for doing the right thing any captain would do for his team Always grateful he won the World Cup in 2022 because the things that would have been said about him would’ve been way more pathetic than the ones currently being said.