‘Biggest circus I’ve seen in my life’ – Javier Mascherano rages at Olympics ‘scandal’ after Argentina goal disallowed
Argentina Olympic football coach Javier Mascherano was left shocked by the one-hour-long VAR decision to disallow a goal that saw Morocco claim victory.
Argentina believed they had wrestled back a point against Morocco on the first day of the football tournament at the Olympics this summer in Paris with a last-gasp equaliser.
After being 2-0 down, Cristian Medina headed in a dramatic equaliser in the 16th minute of injury time to spark chaos at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard with armed police needed to quell angry fans who had stormed the pitch.
With both sides taken off the pitch and the match suspended, the goal was eventually disallowed by VAR - 92 minutes after it happened - with the final three minutes of the game being played in an empty stadium.
Argentina Olympic coach Mascherano was furious with the officials over the decision as Morocco managed to hold on to the win and claim all three points.
The former Liverpool and Barcelona star branded the incident as "the biggest circus I've ever seen in my life".
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He went on to say: "I don't have an explanation for the players. They were reviewing a play for an hour and twenty minutes. Let me continue the game, don't stop me to continue three minutes after an hour and a half.
"The game was suspended for security reasons. When we had no news, we started to notice things. We don't like this kind of thing to happen either.
"We don't want to be favoured or made fun of. Now we have to turn the page and look for the two victories that we will need to qualify.
"What happened on the field was a scandal. We have to focus on our own. Obviously it is confusing but now we have to look forward, this is over, it is over. We have to focus on the two games. Keep the anger and use it in the next games."
From further afield, Argentina's World Cup hero Lionel Messi was also left dumbfounded and reacted with one word on social media.
It came after shocking scenes in Saint-Etienne where fans threw cups and bottles at the Argentine players after Medina's goal in the 16th minute of stoppage-time.
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Some fans even made it on to the pitch, prompting armed police to take action and the referee to take both sets of players off the pitch.
The match was subsequently suspended despite only seconds being left on the clock, with the game resuming almost two hours later.
The match had kicked off at 3pm local time and officially finished at 7:07pm local time with Morocco taking the victory.