Senior workforce skipper Lionel Messi expressed his shock after Argentina’s controversial defeat of their Paris Olympics opener towards Morocco on Wednesday.
The Argentina squad comprising Manchester Metropolis’s Julian Alvarez misplaced 1-2 towards a recreation Morocco aspect as the primary day of the footballing motion went down in infamy after followers invaded the pitch, protesting Argentina’s equalizer within the dying moments of added time. The protests compelled the match to be suspended earlier than resuming after two hours.
Morocco’s Soufiane Rahimi had scored each targets for the Atlas Lions, first within the 45+2 minutes after which once more from the penalty spot to double his aspect’s lead. Giovanni Simeone would pull one again for Argentina however the La Albiceleste couldn’t discover one other aim until the sixteenth minute of added time when it appeared that Cristian Medina had equalized for the 2008 Olympics gold medal winners.
Followers then invaded the stadium whereas bottles and objects have been thrown on the Argentina gamers, forcing the officers to droop the match in the intervening time. After order was restored in Saint-Etienne and the groups had left the sector, they found that the match had not been accomplished however suspended by officers. The ultimate seconds have been later performed behind closed doorways.
‘Insolito’
Messi’s response to the controversy on his Instagram account.
Messi, not a part of the second-string Argentine aspect, took to Instagram to publish a narrative with the Spanish phrase ‘Insolito’. The phrase interprets to ‘uncommon’ or ‘unusual’ in English.
Argentina coach Javier Mascherano termed the entire fiasco as a circus. “The most important circus I’ve ever seen in my life,” he mentioned after the match.
The 37-year-old Messi lately led the Albiceleste to the Copa America 2024 title win. Messi, who suffered an ankle harm through the ultimate, was not a part of the Olympics squad because the Video games permits solely three senior gamers within the squad moreover the U-23 workforce. Alvarez, Nicolas Otamendi and Geronimo Rulli kind the senior trio within the Argentina squad.
(With company inputs)