Messi shown Red As Argentina Grab Third Spot In Copa America 2019
Jul 7, 2019 at 6:19 PM
Argentina beat Chile 2-1 to secure the third place, in a match which saw Lionel Messi and Gary Medel see red cards for an altercation
Lionel Messi sees the second red card of his career, as he is booked along with Gary Medel for altercation between the pair. Medel was more aggressive during the brawl and was seen hitting Messi with his shoulders and pushing him by chest, to which Messi stayed motionless. Argentina’s protests went in vain as the referee and VAR did not overturn the decision.
Argentina had finally looked their best in the tournament with already scoring twice inside the first 25 minutes.
Messi set up Aguero for a perfect pass from a free kick, leaving the Chile defenders confused and seeing Aguero hitting the ball past Chile goalkeeper G. Arias, only in the 12th minute of the game.
Another perfect pass from Giovani Lo Celso combining with Paulo Dybala in the 22nd minute, who precisely put the ball behind the goalkeeper to the bottom right corner to extend Argentina’s lead 2-0.
Gary Medel who had foul tackled Messi as he led the counter attack, escaped the referees wrath once but his second exchange with Messi saw them both getting red cards. VAR was also used for a review and there was a massive brawl between the two sides on the pitch, but the decision remained unchanged.
Early in the second half Chile earned a penalty kick, which Arturo Vidal converted, giving the team and fans hope of a comeback, but the result remained same at the full time; 2-1.
Argentina Manager went all out in defence of his captain during the press conference. He criticized the refereeing and talked about the unity of his team.
“I still don’t understand what it is Messi did to get sent off. I feel that we should be playing the final right now, but we got the consolation prize of winning the third-place game, which is the least we had to do.
“We believe that when one of us is hit we all are, in a football sense. You cannot look away when a team-mate is mistreated.
“We saw it with Leo and with others too. We built a team through our unity.”
Lionel Messi snubbed the award ceremony and also hit out at the federation in a press conference later.
“We don’t have to be part of this corruption,” Messi told reporters. “The lack of respect that they have showed us throughout this tournament. Sadly, the corruption, the referees, they don’t allow people to enjoy football, they ruined it a bit.
“I think the cup is fixed for Brazil, I hope that the VAR and the referees have nothing to do in this final and that Peru can compete because they have the team to do so although I think it’s difficult.”
On the second red card of his career, he seemed to be frustrated with the decision of the referees.
“You saw what happened,” he told reporters. “A yellow would have ended it for both of us. The important thing is that with 10 the team finished well and won.”