Edinson Cavani has shrugged off his spat with Argentina superstar Lionel Messi by claiming it was "part of South American football".
Uruguay international Cavani offered to fight Messi during his country's friendly against the Argentines in Israel on Monday night.
Messi is reported to have replied "whenever you want" to the challenge as a scuffle broke out after the Barcelona legend was on the receiving end of a tough tackle.
Luiz Suarez, Messi's Barca teammate, split up the duo as they continued to bicker in the tunnel.
Diego Godin also tried to act as a peacemaker as he put his arm around Messi to try and bring a sense of calm to the situation.
Despite it being an ugly moment in a 2-2 draw - which saw Messi, Cavani, Suarez and Sergio Aguero all get on the scoreboard - the Paris Saint-Germain ace insisted it was part of a fractious match.
Cavani told TyC Sports : "It's part of football, Clasicos are like this.
"The truth is that it was at times a game that had friction, there were challenges and things that are part of football, especially of South American [football].
"We take positives from our performance and the fact that we were able to score two goals. We still need to improve but it's good to end the year like this."
To go alongside the attack from Cavani, Messi has been forced to swallow a hard truth from Brazil manager Tite - that he isn't as good as Pele.
"Pele is incomparable. Anybody who wants to compare Pele to any other athlete...do you know what I do? I hear but I don't listen.
"It's as if this person doesn't know the history of this man's quality...this guy was phenomenal. Once I said that Messi is extraordinary.
"I meant he's extraordinary to the present time and among humans, with his creativity. Pele is out of normal patterns, and I'm not saying this because I'm a Brazilian. You can't find a defect.
"If somebody comes to me and starts to make comparisons, for me it has no credibility."
