Did Lionel Messi really tell Andy Murray to ‘shut your mouth’?
The Inter Miami captain was asked a simple question by the Scottish tennis player and gave a succinct response.
Lionel Messi is now in his third year in Miami and is clearly enjoying himself in the Sunshine State. Earlier this week the Argentine was in attendance at the Miami Open, where he linked up with tennis star Andy Murray.
Murray has since posted a picture of the two of them on Instagram, alongside this light-hearted caption...
The Scot wrote: “I asked him if he could do it on a cold rainy night in stoke. He responded “cállate la boca” which i think means yes in spanish."
We can assume that Murray knows that the Spanish translation for that phrase is actually ’shut your mouth‘, but did Messi actually say it? The phrase ‘doing it on a cold, rainy night in Stoke’ has become synonymous with taming tough conditions on the field, so Murray was questioning whether Messi could perform in adversity.
During a spell in the Premier League, Stoke City earned a reputation as being a tough place to go for visiting teams. The combination of a physical playing style and often bleak weather conditions ensured that big teams rarely relished a trip to the Britannica Stadium.
Messi isn’t known to be a particularly confrontational person, particularly away from the field, so it seems pretty unlikely that he told Murray to ‘shut up’ in response to the teasing question. Murray has actually spoken about Messi in glowing terms recently, crediting his performances at the 2022 World Cup as a source of motivation in the latter stags of his own sporting career.
“I was really happy for him [Messi] that he was able to finally win the World Cup when he was seen as not having done it at international level,” Murray explained. “Which was strange considering that Argentina won the Copa America not long ago and have been in multiple finals and stuff.”
“The age that he’s at as well – he’s 35 and born in the same year as me. Seeing any athletes in their mid-to-late 30s going out there and competing and performing and doing what they love is brilliant... I find that it gives me motivation to keep going and keep trying to perform as best I can.”
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