Lionel Messi was lambasted by Wayne Rooney after he tried to get Marc Cucurella sent off during the latter stages of the World Cup final.

The game descended into chaos when Argentina's Enzo Fernandez received a second yellow card for clattering Pau Cubarsi in the dying moments of normal time.

This led to a melee between both sets of players and Cucurella was spotted saying something to Messi.

The left back then put a couple of fingers over his mouth and continued speaking, a move which the Argentine immediately reacted to and waved over the referee.

As per FIFA's rules for this tournament, if a player holds their hand over their mouth in a confrontational situation, they will be sent off.

This was seen with Miguel Almiron for Paraguay in the group stage and Piero Hincapie in the knockout stages for Ecuador.

However, it didn't appear that Cucurella was speaking in a confrontational manner and the referee, nor VAR, decided to intervene.

Nevertheless, the BBC pundits were quick to hit out at Messi's behaviour as his team headed into extra time a man down.

Joe Hart said: 'Oh wow! Wow! Yeah, I didn't enjoy that at all from Lionel Messi.

'You realise how on top Spain are if even Lionel Messi is reverting to that.'

Micah Richards added: 'We don't want to see people getting sent off in a World Cup final for that.'

Rooney was similarly furious with Messi's behaviour as he said: 'It is desperation.

'Argentina play like that, we know that's what they do.

'But the one thing you want is good sportsmanship and that was sad to see Lionel Messi doing that.'