Di Maria defends Messi

Angel Di Maria, who plays for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Argentina national team, has jumped to the defence of Lionel Messi, claiming it was not only the Barcelona star hurling abuse at the match officials in Argentina's World Cup qualifier win against Chile.

Messi was handed a four game international ban and a fine of 10,000 Swiss francs by FIFA's disciplinary panel for swearing at the officials – after being found guilty of shouting “your mother's ****” to Brazilian linesman Emerson Augusto do Carvalho.

But fellow countryman Di Maria, who also featured in the Chile win has revealed Messi was not the only player dishing out verbal abuse to the officials as the winger admitted he got in on the act as well.

Di Maria said:”I also shouted abuse at the referee and so did other players, but all they cared about was Messi”

Messi earlier made clear that he is adamant that the ban is unfair as he did not direct his frustrations towards the officials when he told La Nacion: “My sayings were never addressed to the assistant, but they were said to the air.”

Di Maria was not the only one to give Messi his backing however as Barcelona coach Luis Enrique chimed in after Messi was suspended for Barca's La liga game at Granada on Sunday, saying: "Those numbers are incredible, he is super respectful towards referees and he never causes controversy," Luis Enrique told reporters. The numbers Enrique referred to was the fact that the Argentine super star has collected five yellow cards in the league season, although he has committed seven fouls in the campaign, receiving the majority of bookings for dissent.