Gary Neville made a joke referencing US President Donald Trump (Image: ITV)
Gary Neville sent his fellow ITV colleagues into hysterics following a quip about Donald Trump and Lionel Messi during the broadcaster’s World Cup coverage of Argentina vs Egypt. The last-16 encounter between the two nations was unfolding in Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon, with a quarter-final berth at stake.
Argentina found themselves trailing early on after Egypt seized the lead with a goal from Yasser Ibrahim.
The reigning world champions were then handed a chance to draw level in the first half when a penalty was given for a foul by Haissem Hassan on Nicolas Tagliafico. Messi stepped forward to take the spot-kick, but saw his low strike kept out by Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir.
Messi’s penalty failure became a talking point during ITV’s half-time analysis, where Neville was accompanied by Ian Wright and Roy Keane.
Keane was first to address the missed penalty, with the Manchester United icon revealing that those in the studio had doubts about Messi converting.
“To be fair, we were watching it here and Wrighty – we didn’t fancy him,” Keane said. “We know his record isn’t great.
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“As Ally [McCoist] mentioned [in commentary], for a great player – almost lacking belief in himself, it’s amazing.”
The panel were then asked whether anyone could step in to remove Messi from penalty-taking duties, prompting Neville to respond: “[Donald] Trump?”, sparking laughter amongst the pundits.
Wright then elaborated that any footballer would struggle to step forward and assume penalty duties for Argentina in Messi’s stead, given his immense stature within the sport.
Lionel Messi was in tears at the full-time whistle (Image: Getty)
“I can’t imagine anybody,” Wright said. “Can you imagine being in that dressing room? It’s like saying to [Cristiano] Ronaldo: ‘No, I’ll take them’. [Lionel] Scaloni’s not going to say that, either.”
Neville then added: “They’re impossible, these players at that stature, to be able to communicate with around stuff like this.
“They want every penalty, they want every free-kick.”
During the second half, Egypt believed they had extended their lead courtesy of a strike from Ziko, but the goal was chalked off following a foul earlier in the move.
Nevertheless, moments later Ziko did find the back of the net for Egypt’s second, establishing a 2-0 advantage for his nation in Atlanta.
However, Argentina responded with three goals from Cristian Romero, Messi and Enzo Fernandez to send the defending champions through to the quarter-finals, where they will face either Switzerland or Colombia.