Manchester United star and Ronaldo superfan Alejandro Garnacho responds to Lionel Messi accusations

Alejandro Garnacho has responded to accusations he snubbed Lionel Messi in the Copa America final. Argentina won their third major trophy in four years after beating Colombia in the showpiece match at the Hard Rock Stadium in Florida earlier this month.

It looked set to be a disappointing night for Messi, who was substituted with an ankle injury in the 66th minute. Moments later, the 37-year-old Inter Miami star was seen crying on the bench, weighed down by both physical pain and the emotional weight of being forced off the pitch for what could be his final international final.

But the mood changed when Lautaro Martinez scored the winning goal in the final eight minutes of extra time, giving Argentina their second consecutive Copa America title. After the match, social media was flooded with videos suggesting that Garnacho, who has spent just 26 minutes of the tournament on the Argentina bench, repeatedly ignored Messi throughout the evening.

The Manchester United star was closest to the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner when the tears began to flow, but she did not appear to offer comfort to her team-mate. Several other videos showed the 20-year-old walking past Messi during the post-match celebrations, apparently refusing to embrace the legendary forward.

Accusations then began to fly that Garnacho, who has repeatedly stated his admiration for Messi's arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo, was deliberately avoiding the former Barcelona superstar, but the player himself has now spoken out to deny the claims.

On Saturday, he responded to a post on X containing a video compilation of him allegedly ignoring Messi during and after the final by posting a photo of himself. In it, he had an arm around Messi and both were smiling. He also captioned the post using the “shrug” and “facepalm” emojis.

Garnacho is one of the few footballers to have played with both Messi and Ronaldo, having shone alongside the latter during his brief spell at Old Trafford. He has never hidden his love for Ronaldo, having mimicked the 39-year-old's goal celebration in the past, but the idea that this subsequently caused a rift between him and Messi is unfounded.

The young forward has struggled to break into the Argentina first team with the likes of Messi, Martinez, Julian Alvarez and Angel Di Maria ahead of him in the pecking order, although the latter believes it is only a matter of time before that happens.

“[Garnacho] “He's a very fast player, he has incredible abilities,” Di Maria said earlier this year. “He's going to acquire them with experience and coming to the national team, it's a place where you learn a lot and continue to improve. It's helped me a lot to progress technically in all areas, it's spectacular.”

“I think he will grow with experience. When I was young, I wanted to do that play 30 times in a game. As the years go by, you realise that if you do it 10 times, but you do it better, it's worth it. He has a big future, a very big future. It depends on him, his head, his ability to handle it. I don't have much to say, there is a reason why he plays at Manchester United.”