Messi Sees Red as Argentina Wins Copa America Bronze

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Nyakundi Report

Newsroom 2 min read

Primary source Kenyan Digest archive

This archive report was first published on 7 July 2019.

Argentina secured third place at the Copa America with a 2-1 victory over Chile on Saturday, July 6, 2019.

Lionel Messi's fifth Ballon d'Or win was overshadowed by his harsh sending-off in the 82nd minute, along with Chile captain Gary Medel, after a heated exchange on the goalline.

The match was marked by a niggly and fractious atmosphere, with both teams receiving yellow and red cards.

Argentina's Sergio Aguero and Paulo Dybala scored the first-half goals that sealed the victory for Argentina.

However, the match will be remembered for the double sending-off and the ensuing melee.

After a frustrated Messi shoved Medel in the back, the Chilean captain responded with chest-bumps, prompting Paraguayan referee Mario Diaz de Vivar to show both captains the red card.

The situation took five minutes to calm down, with players from both sides and the referee involved in the chaos.

Chile's Erick Pulgar was lucky to receive only a yellow card for a stamp on Leandro Paredes, which looked like a more serious offense than either Messi's or Medel's.

Messi created the opening goal with a quickly-taken free-kick, picking out Aguero's clever diagonal run before the forward rounded goalkeeper Gabriel Arias and passed the ball cooly into the empty goal.

Paulo Dybala doubled the lead with a cool, dinked finish past the advancing Arias after taking a sumptuous Giovani Lo Celso through ball in his stride.

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