Massive chaos engulfed the Olympics on Wednesday as the anger from Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez engaging in a racist singalong with the Argentinian national team spilled into the Games in France, with missiles forcing their game with Morocco to be suspended.
Argentina were booed by fans at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in St-Etienne but the situation worsened when they equalised 16 minutes into stoppage time. Firecrackers, flares and bottles were thrown as Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg told the players to leave the pitch.
More than an hour later, it emerged that VAR had disallowed the goal from Cristian Medina as the teams returned to the field in front of an empty stadium to finish the game. Behind closed doors, they played the final three minutes as Morocco’s 2-1 win was confirmed. There were more than four hours between the start of the match and the final whistle.
The chaotic scenes coincided with Chelsea’s new head coach Enzo Maresca using his first press conference in the United States to play down talk of Fernandez’s footage disrupting their pre-season preparations, claiming they will encounter no issues when he returns.
Argentina’s national anthem was booed pre-match, with the South Americans then going 2-0 down against a well-backed Moroccan team in Saint-Etienne.
A goal from Giuliano Simeone and a stoppage time effort from Cristian Medina saw Argentina fight back to level the match.
Medina’s last minute goal was followed by a pitch invasion from some Moroccan fans, while flares appeared to have been thrown at Argentina’s players forcing a delay to the match.
The full-time whistle had not officially been blown in the match, with the score level at 2-2 after Argentina’s equaliser.
Spanish outlet Marca reported that Argentina’s players had been seen flinching after ‘noise bombs’ were allegedly thrown at them in the closing stages.
Players were taken off by the referee for their own safety at the Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium following the crowd reaction to Argentina’s equalising goal.
A message has been displayed at the stadium, reading ‘your session has been suspended, please leave the stadium’.
Players are now set to complete the final six minutes of stoppage time behind closed doors with fans having since left the venue.
Argentina’s national anthem had been booed ahead of the match amid a racism storm involving Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez.
The South American nation kickstarted their campaign against Morocco, and the players lined up for the customary anthems before kick-off.
As the Argentina anthem played around the venue in Saint Etienne, it was met with widespread boos from the crowd.
And just over an hour after kick-off in the football, Argentina’s rugby sevens side were loudly booed ahead of their clash against Kenya.
The boos drowning out the anthem came just over a week after Chelsea footballer Fernandez filmed himself and his Argentina team-mates singing a chant directed at France’s black players following their Copa America triumph.
The song, which also singles out Kylian Mbappe, was condemned by the French Football Federation who filed a complaint to FIFA.
Photo Credit: Olympics/ x