Copa America - 3rd/4th Play-Offs
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Argentina 2-1 Chile: Messi gets first red card in 14 years as Argentina win

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments271

Argentina
Lionel Messi and Gary Medel were sent off in the 37th minute of the game

Lionel Messi was shown only the second red card of his career as Argentina beat Chile 2-1 in a hot-tempered Copa America third-place play-off.

The Barcelona forward had provided the assist for Sergio Aguero's opener before Paulo Dybala made it 2-0.

But Messi was shown a red following a clash with Gary Medel, which also saw the Chile player dismissed.

Arturo Vidal scored a second-half penalty but Argentina held off the fightback to secure third place.

However, the big talking point was undoubtedly the sendings off of Medel and Messi - who has never been sent off for Barcelona, and whose only other red card was on his international debut 14 years ago.

Tension had been building as the game wore on in a physical encounter with both sides often giving away niggly free-kicks.

Tempers spilled over eight minutes before half time when Messi appeared to nudge over Medel as they both challenged for the ball.

Lionel Messi
Messi and Argentina had previously expressed their frustration with the officiating during the Copa America

Medel responded by forcibly pushing his face into Messi's as the two players argued before the referee arrived and dismissed them both.

It seemed harsh on Messi, who in the replays of the incident did not appear to respond aggressively to Medel's action.

Chile had also lost Alexis Sanchez to injury early on. The Manchester United forward appeared to suffer a hamstring injury when chasing a long ball over the defence.

Brazil meet Peru in the Copa America final on Sunday (21:00 BST) and you can follow live text commentary of the game on the BBC Sport website.

Line-ups

Argentina

Formation 4-3-3

  • 1Armani
  • 2FoythBooked at 79mins
  • 6PezzellaBooked at 57mins
  • 17Otamendi
  • 3TagliaficoBooked at 90mins
  • 16de Paul
  • 5ParedesBooked at 63mins
  • 20Lo CelsoSubstituted forFunes Moriat 90'minutes
  • 10MessiBooked at 37mins
  • 21DybalaSubstituted forDi Maríaat 67'minutes
  • 9AgüeroSubstituted forSuárezat 81'minutes

Substitutes

  • 4Saravia
  • 7Pereyra
  • 11Di María
  • 12Marchesín
  • 13Funes Mori
  • 14Casco
  • 15Pizarro
  • 18Rodríguez
  • 19Suárez
  • 23Musso

Chile

Formation 3-1-4-2

  • 1Arias
  • 17MedelBooked at 37mins
  • 18JaraSubstituted forMaripánat 50'minutes
  • 5Díaz
  • 13PulgarBooked at 45mins
  • 4Isla
  • 20AránguizSubstituted forCastilloat 83'minutes
  • 8VidalBooked at 26mins
  • 15BeausejourBooked at 16mins
  • 11Vargas
  • 7SánchezSubstituted forFernandesat 17'minutes

Substitutes

  • 2Lichnovsky
  • 3Maripán
  • 6Fuenzalida
  • 9Castillo
  • 10Valdés
  • 12Cortés
  • 14Pavez
  • 16Hernández
  • 19Fernandes
  • 21Opazo
  • 22Sagal
  • 23Urra
Referee:
Mario Diaz de Vivar
Attendance:
44,269

Match Stats

Home TeamArgentinaAway TeamChile
Possession
Home39%
Away61%
Shots
Home15
Away4
Shots on Target
Home6
Away3
Corners
Home4
Away1
Fouls
Home21
Away18

Live Text

  1. Post update

    Match ends, Argentina 2, Chile 1.

  2. Full Time

    Second Half ends, Argentina 2, Chile 1.

  3. Post update

    Arturo Vidal (Chile) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  4. Post update

    Foul by Matías Suárez (Argentina).

  5. Post update

    Foul by Arturo Vidal (Chile).

  6. Post update

    Leandro Paredes (Argentina) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  7. Post update

    Paulo Díaz (Chile) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  8. Post update

    Foul by Matías Suárez (Argentina).

  9. Post update

    Attempt missed. Arturo Vidal (Chile) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right following a set piece situation.

  10. Booking

    Nicolás Tagliafico (Argentina) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

  11. Post update

    Mauricio Isla (Chile) wins a free kick on the right wing.

  12. Post update

    Foul by Nicolás Tagliafico (Argentina).

  13. Post update

    Offside, Chile. Guillermo Maripán tries a through ball, but Junior Fernandes is caught offside.

  14. Substitution

    Substitution, Argentina. Ramiro Funes Mori replaces Giovani Lo Celso.

  15. Post update

    Arturo Vidal (Chile) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  16. Post update

    Foul by Giovani Lo Celso (Argentina).

  17. Post update

    Corner, Argentina. Conceded by Guillermo Maripán.

  18. Post update

    Foul by Erick Pulgar (Chile).

  19. Post update

    Rodrigo de Paul (Argentina) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  20. Post update

    Eduardo Vargas (Chile) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

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271 comments

  • Comment posted by DJL-WOLF, at 07:18 7 Jul 2019

    Ha.He literally didn't do anything.

    One of the most ridiculous red cards I have seen in some time

  • Comment posted by U17736335, at 07:30 7 Jul 2019

    Sanchez - greater distance covered and more passes completed for Chile in a couple of weeks than for Utd in a whole season

  • Comment posted by U17269660, at 08:02 7 Jul 2019

    Watch YouTube Messi vs Ramos or any other compilations of Messi getting constantly hacked to bits and look at the way he gets up and conducts himself, rarely does he ever retaliate. Suggest a look at betting on Messi being sent off would be interesting, either that or the referee should have gone to El specsavros.

  • Comment posted by Harvey_the_white, at 07:16 7 Jul 2019

    So Argentina and Chile did not treat it like a nonsense game then ....

  • Comment posted by SecondChoiceName, at 07:43 7 Jul 2019

    Just about the most ridiculous red card I've ever seen. To me it looks like the ref was looking for an excuse to send him off. There was some minor tussling between Messi and Medel and the referee runs straight over with the red out within seconds. A normal reaction would be to try and seperate the players and then decide on the punishment. Looks very fishy to me.

  • Comment posted by MattSucci, at 07:22 7 Jul 2019

    This farce, plus transfer fees, agents fees, etc, etc, goes to show that football is no longer the sport I grew up loving and watching; quite, quite sad 😢.

  • Comment posted by R Soul, at 07:48 7 Jul 2019

    Interesting incident, Messi just stood with his arms down as the other angry little player repeatedly pushed into him with his head (also arms down).

    So I don’t know why Messi got a red, unless it was for the little nudge that triggered the incident.

  • Comment posted by George Weah, at 07:07 7 Jul 2019

    Well played Chile and Medel - sacrificed a pawn for a queen.

  • Comment posted by GunnerBear, at 08:06 7 Jul 2019

    Jostling, pushing somebody off the ball is simply a free kick, not even a caution. The reaction is a red card offence so the ref made a huge and unforgivable mistake in sending Messi off. Alternatively, he saw the opportunity to make himself famous by sending Messi off? Either way, he got it wrong.

  • Comment posted by U17738695, at 08:47 7 Jul 2019

    Seen it on BBC and what a ridiculous decision and they had VAR too.
    After seeing Women’s World Cup too looks like VAR is only as good as the officials using it.
    So if they’re inept and useless bad decisions will still be made.

  • Comment posted by Your Comment, at 07:45 7 Jul 2019

    So that’s Sanchez ruled out for another season with injury.

    Good timing as well, he won’t have to do any pre-season either.

    350k a week in the bank while he watches Lorraine and Mr Tumble from CBeebies everyday while he ‘Recovers’.

  • Comment posted by OGS, at 06:55 7 Jul 2019

    The referee could have just booked them both. It's a third place game for christ's sake.
    It seems he probably wanted to make a name for himself.

  • Comment posted by Michaeel, at 07:04 7 Jul 2019

    Very harsh to say the least.

    I wonder, was the ref getting his own back for Messi's recent criticism of refereeing/VAR during this years tournament

  • Comment posted by James60, at 10:28 7 Jul 2019

    Why is there no comment section for the women's English result? Protecting Neville i guess..

  • Comment posted by adrian, at 06:59 7 Jul 2019

    If you’re going to get sent off for that then most football league teams would be down to 5/6 players every game. Totally ridiculous.

  • Comment posted by thenasman, at 14:20 7 Jul 2019

    Is it me or has their been a huge increase in moderated comments and those being removed since the women’s wc started?

    The BBC’s policy of not being able to say anything that doesn’t fall in with their pc code is disgusting.

    If we don’t like women’s football why can’t we say so?

  • Comment posted by Wendy, at 09:37 7 Jul 2019

    One man teams are not football, Messi and 10 others is not a team but...I watched this and the sending off was a joke, Chile set out to get him sent off even if they lost one of their own players because they thought they would have a better chance of winning. Their failure should be the point of the article not the Messi sending off.

  • Comment posted by Paul, at 09:59 7 Jul 2019

    Medel was a straight red, Messi should be thanked for not reacting. Messi gets battered pretty much every game at Barcelona and up he gets and usually scores. That is his form of retribution. Football is tedious to watch with niggling fouls usual 30 plus yards out so not a chance on goal, time wasting, diving of Olympian proportions. Spanish football is dire to watch but S American is worse.

  • Comment posted by U17738346, at 09:35 7 Jul 2019

    Exactly. Who remembers, for example, Suarez at Liverpool? He constantly pushed the legal boundaries of the game, and he was lauded for doing so by the fans.

  • Comment posted by Another User, at 09:05 7 Jul 2019

    roberto tobar, the ref set for the final, is just another corrupted official, who served an 8 months ban for corruption (poker club scandal, where refs were deciding who gets certain games). this is their finest to ref the final. messi started the war against the high level corruption and is paying the price.

Scores, Results & Fixtures

Saturday 6th July 2019

As It Stood

A

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Brazil32108087
2Venezuela31203125
3Peru311136-34
4Bolivia300329-70

B

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Colombia33004049
2Argentina31113304
3Paraguay302134-12
4Qatar301225-31

C

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Uruguay32107257
2Chile32016246
3Japan302137-42
4Ecuador301227-51
View full Copa America tables

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