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Formula 1 star: Messi's shirt cannot be burned, and the Spaniards' celebration was "shameful"

Some Argentines, including Alpine Formula 1 driver Franco Colapinto, are still finding it difficult to accept the World Cup final defeat to Spain.

The newspaper "Sport" ran Colapinto's comments to ESPN, in which he laid into the way the Spanish celebrated after beating Argentina, calling it "shameful".

He added: "The spread of Spanish shirts during the World Cup? Suddenly they started wearing them when they won, not before. It's shameful."

Colapinto went on: "They don't even have songs to chant." His dig nodded to Argentina's fan culture, famous for inventing chants tailored to the big occasions.

He also claimed he had heard of attempts to burn Messi's shirt. The journalist then steered the conversation elsewhere, sensing it was turning towards more sensitive ground.

Getty Images Sport
The matter seems like a war between Argentina and Spain.
A media session ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix brought Colapinto together with Spaniards Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, and the Alpine driver used it to revisit the Spaniards' celebrations.
He said: "They are deserving champions, but I hope they improve their songs a little. They need to be more creative, as they were dull."
Tension had flared between Spanish and Argentine fans after the match, and he addressed that too. "We are two Latin countries, and that is wonderful, but there are differences that make it seem as though we are enemies."
He continued: "Messi played for Barcelona and gave the Spanish fans many happy moments, but now it seems as if it is a war between two countries, and that is not nice. I don't think burning Messi's shirts is right."
Colapinto was not the only Argentine to take aim at the Spanish way of celebrating. Some back home see it as lacking the enthusiasm the fans there are used to.
Many in Spain see it differently. They argue the style reflects a greater degree of awareness and self-restraint, without diminishing the value of the achievement or the scale of the joy at the title.

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The matter seems like a war between Argentina and Spain.

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