Lionel Messi might not have missed a match-winning World Cup penalty against Iceland if he had played a warm-up game in Jerusalem, Israel’s defence minister said on Saturday.

Minister Avigdor Lieberman suggested Messi had missed the important penalty because Argentina had pulled out of a friendly game against Israel at the last minute.

“We saw just how much Messi needed a warm-up game against Israel,” the minister tweeted.

Messi’s 64th-minute miss was his fourth failed penalty in his last seven attempts for Argentina and his club Barcelona.

Argentina pulled out of the friendly match after it was moved to Jerusalem from its original location in Haifa, inflaming tensions with Palestinians and turning what should have been a showcase of football into a political hot potato.

Jerusalem is a contested city and already saw violent protests earlier this year, following Donald Trump’s decision to relocate the USA’s embassy to the city from Tel Aviv.

Minister Lieberman was not the only Israeli politician to relate Argentina’s failure to beat tiny Iceland to their failed visit to Israel: another politician from a rival faction asked his Twitter followers to vote on who would be happier to see Messi fluff his penalty kick.

The options? Messi's eternal footballing rival Cristiano Ronaldo, or Israeli Sports Minister Miri Regev, who was blamed for the decision to move the friendly to Jerusalem.