DId Messi reject best player award at the Copa America?

A video which appears to show the Copa America tournament organisers removing the Best Player award from the stage at the final of the tornament has appeared online, amid rumours that Lionel Messi refused to accept it after his Argentina side lost 5-4 on penalties.

The footage shows the Best Player trophy being taken away from the winners' podium immediately after Ever Banega punted his penalty over the bar, condemning Argentina to more tournament failure and Messi to more pretending that he doesn't hate each and every one of his useless teammates.

Messi was absolutely brilliant throughout the tournament, producing one of his best ever displays in the semi-final thrashing against Paraguay and controlling games on his way to the final. Don't let the one goal he scored fool you the rightful winner of this prize was the Messi.

A similar situation unfolded at the Brazil World Cup, when having just lost the biggest game in football after single handedly dragging Argentina to the final, Messi was forced to parade his Golden Ball trophy next to a beaming Manuel Neuer.

 

With the face of a child who had not only dropped his ice cream on the floor but also watched the entire ice cream shop burn to the ground before his very eyes, you could just see the image of a deeply upset Messi politely accepting his prize
After that World Cup final, Messi said:
“Right now I do not care nothing, not about my prize, nothing. I just wanted to lift the cup and bring it to Argentina. The pain is very great."
Famously disconsolate when he loses, Messi appeared to abandon hope of winning the Copa America the very second Banega's penalty flew over the bar. As his teammates followed the ball's path into orbit, Messi turned around, head sunken, as though he knew exactly what was about to happen. Again, he was one step ahead of everybody else in the stadium.

 

Whether Messi has been awarded the Copa America MVP trophy privately, with the tournament organisers wisely deciding not to put a very upset Argentinian on stage in front of the world to collect a trophy he will hate forever, is unclear, though it is reported in Spanish media that he instructed officials not to try and present it as he would not accept.

 

It took a full ten seconds before Messi took off his runners-up medal. Where that will end up is also a mystery, though since the Golden Ball award is most likely being used as a door stop at the moment, the bin seems the most likely destination. Or perhaps, as is popular at the moment, the sea.