Ugly scenes marred France and Argentina’s 2024 Olympics quarter-final match in Bordeaux on Friday night as players clashed on the pitch and in the tunnel at full-time. Jean-Philippe Mateta’s early strike was enough to send Thierry Henry’s side into the semi-finals at the Matmut Atlantique before tensions flared after the full-time whistle.
It promised to be a spiky affair in the wake of Argentina’s players being filmed singing a racist and discriminatory chant about their French counterparts after winning the Copa America earlier this summer.
That incident intensified a rivalry already ignited by Argentina’s dramatic triumph in the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar, from which the vile chant surfaced.
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The Argentinian national anthem was booed before kick-off, setting the tone for the grudge match that was about to take place in Bordeaux.
The quarter-final clash didn’t disappoint as both teams – brimming with talent – battled for the chance to at least compete for a medal.
Mateta was the difference, reconnecting a familiar link-up with Michael Olise as he headed home from his former Crystal Palace team-mate’s fifth-minute corner.
Olise thought he had doubled France’s lead in the 84th minute before VAR intervened by controversially adjudging Maghnes Akliouche to have committed a foul in the build-up.
Javier Mascherano’s side were left ruing two gilt-edged chances as the full-time whistle blew, setting up a semi-final meeting between the hosts and Egypt.
Following almost 12 minutes of stoppage time, France didn’t have a chance to celebrate their triumph before a scrap broke out on the pitch.
Henry looked visibly annoyed as players piled into each other, aggressively pushing and shoving while others attempted to restore order.
The wild scenes looked to continue down the tunnel before, shortly after, France’s players re-emerged onto the pitch to savour their hard-fought victory with their fans.
Later, Henry confirmed that, amongst the chaos, Enzo Millot, who started in midfield against Argentina, received a red card for his actions.
He told France 3: “That’s unnecessary, useless. He was on the bench. I’m really not happy about it.”
France’s opponents, Egypt, edged into the semi-finals by beating Paraguay 5-4 on penalties, while Morocco and Spain are set to clash in the other match.
Morocco romped to a 4-0 victory against the USA to start Friday’s action before Spain thumped Japan 3-0, and Egypt and France rounded out the final four.
Les Bleus are the strong favourites to reach the gold medal match, while Spain are slightly favoured to triumph over Morocco to set up a mouth-watering European showdown.