French fans booed and threw objects at the Argentine U-23 football team in their controversial opening game of the Paris 2024 Olympics against Morocco.
The fans invaded the pitch after Cristian Medina scored in the dying minutes to level up at 2-2, but VAR ruled that Medina was offside, giving Morocco the 2-1 win.
There was confusion as it took match officials some time to come up with the VAR decision. The match was suspended for over an hour, even as some believed it ended in a 2-2 draw.
Argentina players, were booed earlier in the match in response to the post-Copa América celebrations that included them chanting a song that the French Football Federation described as “racist and discriminatory.”
Once the fans and objects were cleared from the pitch, the teams had already moved to their locker rooms despite the match being suspended by officials and not over.
After a delay of over an hour, the referee ruled that VAR was needed to review Medina’s goal.
Reacting to the chaos, Argentine legend Lionel Messi wrote on Instagram: “Insòlito” (unbelievable) with a surprise face emoji.
“It is the biggest circus I have ever seen in my life,” said Argentina head coach Javier Mascherano.
