Argentina forward Lionel Messi and Chilean midfielder Gary Medel both received red cards for a first-half altercation during the Copa America third place play-off.
Goals from Sergio Aguero and Paulo Dybala gave Argentina a commanding two goal lead after 20 minutes before Messi and Medel clashed off the ball just minutes before half-time.
Here the full video:
Messi giving a very nasty stamp on the ankle to Medel from behind with ball far.
Medel reacting by trying to headbutting Messi.
Could be both yellow.
If ref has strict disciplinary policy, then it’s ok to give both red cards https://t.co/bb0hVzZDZ6
— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) July 6, 2019
The only other red card of Messi’s career came against Hungary on his debut in 2005 where he lashed out with his arm after his marker had been trying to pull him back.
Argentina crashed out of this year’s Copa America following a 2-0 loss to Brazil on Tuesday and Messi feels that his side were far from outplayed by this year’s finalists.
“They were not better than us. They found the net early and the second goal came from a penalty [to Agüero] they didn’t award,” Messi told reporters.
“They [the officials] had booked a lot of bullshit, but they didn’t even check the VAR, that’s incredible.That happened all over the game.
“At the first glance of contact, they ruled in their [Brazil’s] favour and this kind of bullshit distracted us from the game. There is no excuses for us, but we need to review this, analyse it and let’s hope CONMEBOL does something about it.”
