Edinson Cavani was ready to have it out with Lionel Messi when Uruguay and Argentina came to blows on Monday night.
The two South American nations played a friendly match in Israel on Monday night, but tensions between the two forwards boiled over.
Cavani, according to Argentine newpaper Ole , was seen offering to fight Messi to which he responded “whenever you want”.
The scuffle, which started on the pitch after the Barcelona star was on the receiving end of a rough tackle, then continued into the tunnel.
It took Luis Suarez, who is Messi’s team-mate at Barcelona , to break the two apart.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Diego Godin also tried to act as a peacemaker as he put his arm around Messi to try and bring a sense of calm to the situation.
But despite the tense atmosphere Cavani was happy to skim over the incident citing it as typically South American.
“It was a classic, a very friction match with strong entries such as South American football,” he told ESPN.
“On both sides there are good things, we leave with a positive feeling and we try to play football, then it was already a classic, we live it like this.”
At club level Cavani has faced speculation over his PSG future with new boy Mauro Icardi impressing since his switch from Inter Milan.
The Uruguayan has been linked with a move to the MLS to replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic at LA Galaxy.
Cavani opened the scoring in Israel before Messi scored a late penalty after providing the assist for Argentina’s first equaliser as they drew 2-2 with Uruguay.
But the Barcelona star has been involved in confrontations as well as goals in the past week after clashing with Tite during Argentina’s win over Brazil.
The Brazilian boss confessed that he had been having words with Messi which saw him complain to the referee, but Messi had the last laugh as his goal sealed a 1-0 win in Saudi Arabia.
