Sports

Palestinian football chief urges Messi to boycott Israel

AP

The head of the Palestinian football federation is calling on Arab and Muslim sports fans to burn photos and T-shirts of Barcelona superstar lionel Messi if he attends a friendly match between Argentina and Israel next weekend.

Jibril Rajoub made the call after a demonstration in front of the Argentinian representative office in Ramallah, where he asked Argentina to cancel the match.

The match is scheduled to be played on Saturday at an Israeli football stadium in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Malha.

The neighbourhood is situated on the site of a former Palestinian village destroyed during the war that established Israel 70 years ago.

"Messi. Don't come. Don't whitewash the face of racism," Rajoub said.

Israel's football federation has however clarified that the Argentine superstar is expected to play at next week's match.

Meanwhile, the Argentine national team carried out training at FC Barcelona’s training facilities in Catalonia under coach Jorge Sapaoli.