Lionel Messi shows his tough side as he confronts Philadelphia Union’s Jose Martinez in a tense exchange during Leagues Cup semifinal victory

Lionel Messi showed his tough side in Tuesday night’s victory over the Philadelphia Union when he shot down rival midfielder Jose Martinez in a tense conversation.

In the final stages of the game in Philadelphia, Messi confronted the midfielder and appeared to accuse him of kicking his Miami teammate Noah Allen in the 90th minute when he tried to protect the ball as it fell over.

Messi ran across the stands in front of his team-mate and cameras appeared to see him say ‘how are you going to kick him to the ground like that?’ as he stared down the Philadelphia player.

Messi continued to look at Martinez before the referee ran over to intervene, standing between the two players as Messi turned and walked away.

And it was the World Cup winner who had the last laugh on Tuesday night when he scored his ninth goal in his sixth game in Miami to take his team to the Leagues Cup final.

Miami took the lead through Josef Martinez in the third minute and in the 20th, Messi doubled their lead with a brilliant goal.

Martinez had thrown the ball in his path and as he ran forward he realized he had plenty of time to try his luck from about 35 yards out.

His sweetly batted shot surprised Union goalkeeper Andre Blake and settled into the far corner, flying out of the keeper’s reach.

Messi’s new teammate from Miami, Jordi Alba, made three and although Union got a goal back in the second half, a genuine comeback never materialized and David Ruiz scored for Miami to secure victory.

“We worked our way to the final and we made it!!! We are still at the last step,” Messi wrote on Instagram after the match.