Maradona played down controversy over Argentina's first goal in a 3-1 victory against Mexico, when goalscorer Carlos Tevez was clearly offside, and claimed referees were as guilty for not protecting Messi as missing obvious offsides.
"Messi gets kicked around and the referee does not act," said Maradona. "I have lived that myself 20 years ago, when I was a player when you had three players on you."
