Lionel Messi’s biggest detractor might well be a Gabonese political party

It seems like Lionel Messi made more enemies than friends on his recent trip to Gabon.

The Barcelona superstar paid the African country a brief visit over the weekend for a reported appearance fee of €3.6 million. However, the casual attire Messi donned while greeting the country's president has received some backlash, namely from Gabon's political opposition party. https://twitter.com/BarcaSnacks/status/622531896098996224 The Union du Peuple Gabonais (UPG) party released this statement in French, translated by ESPN, regarding Messi's recent visit:

The messiah of football arrived in Gabon like he were going to a zoo: dirty, unshaven and his hands in his pockets, looking for peanuts to throw to them! When you're called Lionel Messi and you're a multi-billionaire, you don't have the right to present yourself to officials of a republic, even a banana one, with your hands in the pockets of a ripped, tattered pair of shorts. Gabon isn't a zoo. We don't know what the Argentine came to Gabon for, but we at least have the right to denounce his negligence and his lack of respect for standards and principles. We are uneasy with Messi's attitude and his attire. Only for these reasons, linked to respect for the host country, do we condemn the footballer's indelicateness, to say the least!

Hat-tip to the Score