He may not be part of Argentina’s Olympic football team this time around but Lionel Messi sure is keeping a close eye at their matches it seems. On Wednesday, the world champions began their bid for a third Olympic men’s football gold with a chaotic affair against Morocco, suffering a 1-2 defeat.
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Morocco had taken a 2-0 lead through Soufiane Rahimi before Giuliano Simeone breathed some life into the game pulling one back for Argentina. Then, in the the 16th minute of stoppage time, Cristian Medina found the back of the net to make it 2-2.
And that’s when the contest spiraled out of control.
With the Argentine team busy celebrating the late equaliser, the crowd started throwing projectiles – plastic bottles, cups – at the players and few even managed to enter the pitch forcing the match to be suspended as referee quickly blew the whistle.
The players left the field but the state of the match wasn’t clear since the referee hadn’t blown the full-time whistle. Two hours later, the players entered the pitch to complete the remaining three minutes but in a stunning turn of events, Medina’s equaliser was ruled out for offside following a VAR review.
Morocco kept Argentina at bay for the remainder of the contest to win 2-1 and take home all three points.
Argentina coach Javier Mascherano was furious how the match ended as was seven-time Ballon D’Or winner Messi who made his feelings known via an Instagram story.
“Insolito (Unbelievable)”, wrote Messi who was the captain when Argentina won the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
Mascherano branded the match as “a circus”.
“At no point did they tell us our goal was not valid… this would not even happen in a neighbourhood tournament. It’s pathetic. Beyond the Olympic spirit, the organisation needs to be up to standard. At the moment it is not, unfortunately,” he said.
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