Lionel Messi has been banned for three months after he accused Copa America organisers of being "corrupt".
Conmebol, the South American Football Confederation, handed down the punishment alongside a $50,000 fine to the Argentina captain on Saturday.
The 32-year-old was sent off during Argentina's Copa third-place play-off victory over Chile, but accused the tournament organisers of fixing the competition to favour hosts, Brazil.
"We don't need to be part of the corruption that we've suffered at this tournament," Messi said told Spanish media outlet AS.
"[Gary] Medel [with whom he had a confrontation, leading to the sending off] is always right at the limit. With a yellow, that would have been the end of it for both of us, but well, maybe what I said recently had an impact.
"What's important is that the team finished well in the tournament. Maybe this was ordered and I ended up suffering because of what I said."
Ahead of the Copa final between Brazil and Peru, he added: "Hopefully the referees and the VAR won't influence things and they let Peru compete, but I think that's unlikely."
The Barcelona star will now miss upcoming friendlies against Chile, Mexico and Germany later this year. The games will act as a tune-up as qualifying for the 2022 World Cup begins in March 2020.
Messi will have a week to appeal the decision.
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