Copa America off the field: Messi’s birthday surprise and Neymar’s row with Borja

The action in Copa America is heating up, both on and off the field. The top four of five teams in each of two groups will advance to the quarter-finals after Tuesday’s games, and Brasil has already qualified to the knockout phase, after a somewhat controversial win over Columbia (who qualified too). And the star of that game was PSG forward Neymar, both for his actions on and off the field.

The Brazilian player assisted to Casemiro for the winning goal and became the the top assist-man in the history of the Brazilian national team, surpassing famous Pele. After the game, Neymar had some time to ’discuss’ things with Columbian player Borja. A lot of insults have been exchanged between the two and in the end, teammates and security guards prevented the two from having closer contact.

Colombians score a wondergoal but were still undone by Brazil and the referee

First it was Neymar, who said to Miguel Borja: "Very bad. You didn't even play for Palmeiras. Very bad". Borja entered the second half, but barely touched the ball. The Colombian is on loan to Junior Barranquilla until the end of this month and, when the Copa America ends, he will return to Palmeiras if his current team does not exercise the right to purchase. But Borja wasn’t short on words, and immediately replied to the Brazilian, saying that Neymar is always lying on the grass after a single contact.

One of the favorites to win the tournament are always strong Argentina, led by captain Lionel Messi. The Barca forwards is 34 years old today, and at midnight, he was surprised by his team mates. The captain shared a video on Instagram showing how his teammates surprised him by waking him up to sing ’Happy Birthday’ and hand him some gifts. Messi was quick to offer his thanks to his teammates in the caption. He wrote, “Thank you very much for making me spend a special day even though I am not with the family whom I miss a lot at the moment.”