Argentina’s last-gasp equaliser against Morocco from Cristian Medina was chalked off by VAR as the players were forced to retreat after pitch invaders and crowd trouble in Saint-Etienne
The football competition at the Olympics got off to a chaotic start after shambolic scenes made a mockery of Argentina vs Morocco.
Argentina thought they had scored a dramatic late equaliser in Saint-Etienne after Cristian Medina headed in a rebound off the crossbar in the 106th minute. There was confusion amid the scenes afterwards, as supporters fan onto the pitch and the Argentina players made for cover in the tunnel, with firecrackers being thrown in their direction.
Pitch invaders had twice halted play, much to the frustration of Argentina as they chased the game, and tensions boiled over after Medina’s goal. Viewers watching on Eurosport were under the impression that the match had finished with the score at 2-2, but that wasn’t the case.
In actual fact, despite there having been 15 minutes of added time scheduled, the players had been taken off the pitch with three minutes still to play. Over an hour later it then emerged that Medina’s cross-range header had been ruled out by VAR for offside.
It meant that, over an hour and 20 minutes later, with no fans left in the stadium, the two teams returned to the pitch to complete the closing stages, with Morocco once again holding a 2-1 lead. The players were summoned to warm-up on the pitch in Saint-Etienne before kicking back off at 6pm inside an empty stadium. Morocco managed to see out the three minutes without conceding to win 2-1.
The remarkable scenes at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard came after Morocco had taken a surprise 2-0 lead in the game, which originally started at 2pm. Soufiane Rahimi tapped in the opening goal before adding a second from the penalty spot.
Giuliano Simeone then halved the deficit with a back-post finish to set up a grandstand finish amid raucous scenes. Morocco supporters were furious to see 15 minutes added on by the officials and interrupted play twice before the unsavoury scenes at the end.
Security had to remove pitch invaders ( Image: ARNAUD FINISTRE/AFP via Getty Images)
In a clip posted on social media, Argentina’s players were shown ducking and clutching their heads as a firecracker went off just above them, having been thrown from the stands.
After warming up, the two sides played out the final three minutes, deep into added time, with Morocco hanging on to win 2-1.
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