Leo Messi accused the referee of bias after Argentina crashed out of the Copa America with a 2-0 semi-final loss to Brazil.
Leo Messi felt a number of decisions went against his side in Belo Horizonte as goals from Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino in each half put Brazil through to a final against Chile or Peru.
Messi was particularly aggrieved Argentina were not awarded a penalty by referee Roddy Zambrano immediately prior to Brazil’s second goal but that was only one of a number of complaints.
Messi believed Argentina should have had a penalty for a foul on Aguero (left) (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
The 32-year-old told reporters: «They were not better than us. They found the net early and the second goal came from a penalty they didn’t award.
«The officiating was crazy. There were clear penalties, on (Nicolas) Otamendi, on ‘Kun’ (Sergio Aguero).
«He (the referee) was on their side. In every divided ball or dispute, he inclined the pitch their way.
«It’s not an excuse, but the truth is that, in this Copa, they kept on blowing for stupid things, for handballs, penalties.
«But today, they didn’t even go to VAR when there were clear plays that should have been looked at.»
Despite the result, Messi was proud of his team-mates and believes there is a bright future ahead for the national side.
The Barcelona star said: «It was the best match we did in the Copa, against a Brazil that has spectacular players in all its lines.
«These guys made a huge sacrifice. They deserve respect. Argentina has the material to keep growing.»
Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring for Brazil (Eugenio Savio/AP)
Brazil captain Dani Alves admitted his side had needed to dig deep to secure the result.
He said: «Argentina were a very difficult opponent. We needed to make a barbaric effort.
«It’s one more step towards our goal. Everything we aimed for from the beginning we are fulfilling but we knew it would not be easy.
«I think many people doubted us but we have a lot of trust in our work.»
Dani Pereti
The ball was lost cos Messi gave it away while trying to pass Aguero. Even if Aguero was murdered in the box, Messi would have lost the ball. That midfielder obviously didn’t care cos he was either upset about Messi losing the ball or about the referee not taking the Aguero foul
Camilo Ruiz
As I said both were stone wall penalties, VAR referee thought so too and either ref has cheated or Brazilian government has cheated. Mental. You wonder why Messi was so angry.
Tomas Catalan
Should’ve been Argentina in the final facing Peru if that rat referee wasn’t a Ronaldo fanboy. Hope he gets a life sentence imprisonment for costing Messi an international trophy.
Daniel Sánchez
The point is referee made mistakes. He wasn’t biased towards. Or he would’ve called the pen in Brazil favor. Just take the L and go home man. Messi never getting an International trophy. Move on.