Argentina captain Lionel Messi gave a curious message to his players just moments before their World Cup final defeat by Spain, new footage has revealed.

Spain beat the 2022 world champions 1-0 at the MetLife Stadium on Sunday, triumphing thanks to Ferran Torres’ goal in extra time after dominating the ball in one of the most one-sided World Cup finals ever staged.

Argentina, who had controversially edged past Cape Verde, Egypt and Switzerland before knocking England out in the semi-finals, were heavily criticised for their aggressive tackling and dirty tactics throughout the tournament – and their World Cup campaign ended in disgrace as they became embroiled in a mass brawl with Spain’s players after the final whistle. 

Speculation that something was not quite right within Argentina’s camp has been circulating on social media after new footage of Messi addressing his players before the final was shared to social media on Monday.

In the video, as Messi prepares to lead Argentina out holding his country’s pennant flag, he turns to his players who appear strangely downbeat and gloomy and says: ‘Come on, guys, stay calm, folks. Let’s stay calm, guys. Let’s just think about playing, stay calm. Let’s forget about everything. Let’s just think about playing, folks.’

The curious message has led many fans to speculate whether Argentina’s camp were in the right frame of mind heading into the huge match.

Lionel Messi delivered a curious message to his Argentina stars before the World Cup final

Argentina’s World Cup final defeat by Spain ended with a disgraceful brawl on the pitch

Some supporters have theorised whether Messi was telling his team-mates to forget about world football’s negative perception of them throughout the tournament, amid claims that World Cup referees had favoured Argentina in decisions throughout the knockout stage.

After staging a late comeback to win 3-2 against Egypt in the last 16, opposition manager Hossam Hassan furiously accused FIFA of rigging the World Cup after a string of controversial refereeing decisions went against his side.

Switzerland were also furious at officials after their 3-1 defeat by Argentina in the quarter-finals, as forward Breel Embolo was shown a controversial second yellow card following a VAR review.

Other supporters have suggested that Argentina’s stars were emotional about the prospect of playing with 39-year-old all-time great Messi for the final time at the World Cup, despite him not having officially retired yet.

Argentina reacted disgracefully to Spain’s celebrations at the full-time whistle as Leandro Paredes was sent off for throttling Eric Garcia and throwing Gavi to the floor in shameful scenes.

Nahuel Molina also punched Rodri in the torso as he was running by, while Thiago Almada was involved, too. 

Their emotional manager Lionel Scaloni then stormed out of his press conference in tears, saying: ‘We need time to reset and form another group like this one. It’ll be hard to recreate this one. It hurts my soul, I’m sorry.’

Responding to the video of Messi on social media, one fan posted: ‘I know Spain are a quality team, but Argentina’s performance genuinely left me baffled. They looked nothing like the team we’ve come to know. 

‘There was no intensity, no urgency, no excitement completely different from the energy they showed in their previous games. Something felt off about that performance. I still can’t explain what I watched.’

A second fan said in a post: ‘Argentina knew they couldn’t beat Spain so were trying to just make it to penalties.’

A third posted: ‘Something weird is going on here. Very weird. Lionel’s pep talk, Enzo’s eyes, Licha’s red nose… something VERY weird happened before the final. 

‘Neither Messi, nor De Paul, nor Paredes, nor Dibu, NO ONE is posting anything on social media. Minimally weird.’

Another conspiracy theorist added: ‘At the Qatar final, they got off the bus totally unhinged, tearing through everything. Something happened, some argument with Scaloni, Tapia told them something, some FIFA sanction, I don’t know. 

‘They were wrecked physically and mentally. I insist, something really shady went down there and we’re gonna find out about it in 40 years.’

Messi was in tears at the end of the game and refused to watch Spain lift the World Cup trophy

Fans were not afraid to offer their speculative theories on social media in response to the video

Argentina also made headlines after the World Cup final defeat for refusing to watch Spain lift the trophy.

The defeated finalists collected their silver medals from FIFA supremo Gianni Infantino and US President Donald Trump on the stage at the MetLife Stadium but decided not to watch as Spain lifted the trophy – which is customary in finals of major tournaments.

Instead, the Argentina players, coaching team and staff walked over to the end where the majority of their fans were located and spent time gazing into the crowd with glossy eyes.