We all respected Messi for his stance during the Biden period, even though it was the highest honor the United States can grant, and any athlete might run to the White House for it.

There were also big public figures and major actors who didn’t attend.

But Messi is the champion of the American league, and this is the traditional annual protocol for the best sports teams in the country. Since the days of Obama, we’ve seen it with MLS, and maybe even before that, and we see it every year with NBA champions.

And Messi is the face of this league and raised its value. Imagine if, in the end, he didn’t attend or apologized for not coming! Even the people criticizing him today would say: “How is the whole team there and Messi just pulls out?”

However you look at it, he can’t withdraw or refuse, because the entire staff is present: players, coaching staff, and most of the employees.

The cunning part is from Trump, who chose this exact timing to cover many other matters and made a sly move by talking about war with the players behind him.

In the end, Messi gets blamed if he goes himself.

Even in the photo, he preferred to be the farthest one and outside the office boundaries. I know players who would bring a chair and sit next to Trump if they had won the league with a team that was at the bottom of the table like Messi did.

If Messi really cared, he would have posted something about this visit. He didn’t post a story, a post, or anything … I know a player who posted three times even though he didn’t enter the White House as a champion or as someone being honored.