Lionel Messi expressed his surprise on social media when he saw the Argentine Olympic team lose their opening match against the Moroccan Olympic team on the evening of July 24.
“It’s really unbelievable,” Lionel Messi wrote on social media after witnessing the Argentine Olympic team being defeated by the Moroccan Olympic team on the opening day of the 2024 Paris Olympics, in the match that took place on the evening of July 24 at Stade Geoffroy.
Argentina got off to a poor start against Morocco, trailing 2-0. Javier Mascherano’s men then rallied in the second half and scored two goals in a row, thanks to Giuliano Simeone and Cristian Medina. Notably, Cristian Medina’s equalizer came in the 16th minute of injury time in the second half (there were 15 minutes of injury time).
Lionel Messi is surprised by what happened to the Argentina Olympics
ESPN
The match seemed to end with a score of 2-2, but then a turning point happened. Moroccan fans attacked the Argentine players, throwing bottles and fireworks onto the field, forcing the tournament organizers to evacuate both teams into the tunnel.
According to Marca ( Spain), the match still had 4-5 minutes of extra time left but the Swedish referee, Glenn Nyberg, decided to stop the match and send the players to the tunnel.
When the referee blew the whistle, the Argentine Olympic team and many fans thought this was the final whistle, but in fact the referee blew the whistle to send Argentina to “take refuge”.
The audience ran down to the field.
ESPN
The security incident was very unfortunate.
REUTERS
The Olympics have not yet opened, but there are already bad things happening.
AFP
Security must be strengthened
AFP
Afterwards, Mr. Glenn Nyberg discussed with the coaching staff of both teams and asked the players to continue playing. This decision of Mr. Glenn Nyberg was approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the players of both teams played behind closed doors.
After more than an hour, the two teams returned to play the remaining extra minutes (the organizers added 3 minutes of extra time due to the security incident), when the audience had left. Argentina and Morocco were also informed: Medina’s equalizer was invalid, because VAR determined that the Argentine player was offside. Therefore, Argentina lost the match 1-2, when they were unable to score in the remaining 3 minutes of extra time.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s the biggest circus I’ve ever seen in my life,” Argentina Olympic coach Mascherano affirmed in the face of a series of scandals in the opening match. Messi’s juniors need to make an effort in the remaining two matches, if they don’t want to leave the 2024 Paris Olympics early in the group stage.
