This archive report was first published on 7 July 2019.
On July 6, 2019, Lionel Messi's Argentina team secured a 2-1 win over Chile in the Copa America third-place play-off in Sao Paulo.
However, the match was marred by controversy as Messi was sent off in the first half following a confrontation with Chile's Gary Medel.
Messi appeared to have been hard done by, with Medel appearing to push his head towards the Argentina playmaker as they squared up, chest to chest.
"We don't need to be part of the corruption that we've suffered at this tournament," Messi said, as quoted by Spanish media outlet AS.
"Medel is always right at the limit. With a yellow that would have been the end of it for both of us, but well, maybe what I said recently had an impact. What's important is that the team finished well in the tournament. Maybe this was ordered and I ended up suffering because of what I said," Messi added.
Argentina's head coach, Lionel Scaloni, also expressed his frustration with the refereeing decisions, stating, "Either the criteria is bad, or they don't agree. It seems to me that they are not yet clear about the VAR system."
Chile's coach, Reinaldo Rueda, praised his team's performance, saying, "The evaluation of our performance was positive. We have shown to be a team which is very disciplined and I have confidence that we are doing great work."
