Neville's Trump quip stuns ITV panel as Messi misses penalty against Egypt

Gary Neville drew laughter from his fellow ITV pundits Roy Keane and Ian Wright during half-time of Argentina’s last-16 clash with Egypt at the 2026 World Cup in Atlanta on Tuesday, after suggesting Donald Trump should take over penalty duties from Lionel Messi.

The remark came after Messi had stepped up to equalise for the reigning world champions in the first half, only to see his low effort saved by Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir. Egypt had taken the lead through Yasser Ibrahim, leaving Argentina on the back foot from the outset.

Keane opened the half-time discussion by admitting the studio had doubted Messi before he even struck the ball. “To be fair, we were watching it here and Wrighty — we didn’t fancy him,” Keane said. “We know his record isn’t great. As Ally [McCoist] mentioned, for a great player — almost lacking belief in himself, it’s amazing.”

When the panel was asked whether anyone could realistically take the penalty responsibility away from Messi, Neville’s one-word answer — “Trump?” — brought the house down.

Wright followed up by arguing that no player in the Argentina squad would dare step forward given Messi’s stature in the game. “I can’t imagine anybody,” Wright said. “Can you imagine being in that dressing room? It’s like saying to Ronaldo: ‘No, I’ll take them’. Scaloni’s not going to say that, either.”

Neville expanded on the point, noting the difficulty of managing players of that calibre. “They’re impossible, these players at that stature, to be able to communicate with around stuff like this. They want every penalty, they want every free-kick.”

On the pitch, Egypt extended their lead in the second half when Ziko scored to make it 2-0, after an earlier effort from the same player had been ruled out for a foul in the build-up. The winner of the tie will face either Switzerland or Colombia in the quarter-final.