Barcelona superstar, Lionel Messi told the club’s supporters not to jeer his teammate, Philippe Coutinho.
Messi was the man of the moment in Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Premier League contenders, Liverpool on Wednesday.
The Argentine scored twice in the Catalans’ win over Liverpool in the first leg of Champions League semi final.
The victory puts Barca in a brilliant position ahead of the second leg at Anfield.
While Messi’s first goal was a simple tap-in after the ball came down off the bar and into his path, his second was a moment of genius as he curled the ball in from a free-kick some 35 yards.
The Argentina captain celebrated wildly with his team-mates after the goals.
However, after his first, he was seen gesturing something with his hands to the fans.
Spanish publication AS, reports that Messi was telling supporters not to jeer Coutinho.
Coutinho, a former Liverpool midfielder, was booed off when he was substituted.
The player has struggled for form ever since his £142million transfer to Barcelona, but was given the nod to start against Liverpool.
After failing to make an impact, he was then swapped with Nelson Semedo and the newspaper reports that Messi pleaded with the fans to take it easy with the Brazilian.
Speaking about Coutinho’s performance, Messi told reporters, “This is a time when we have to be more united than ever, both as players and fans. “This is something we have to achieve together and it is not the moment to criticise anybody.
“It is ugly to see [the crowd] treat a team-mate like that.”
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