Losing the World Cup final to Spain saw frustration boil over for Argentina’s Leandro Paredes. Immediately after the final whistle, things got ugly at MetLife, with the midfielder triggering a brawl that saw him get a straight red. Head coach Lionel Scaloni had to step in to calm things down and maintain order after emotions got the better of the beaten Argentinian players.
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As the Spanish players celebrated their 1-0 win, Paredes engaged in violent conduct. He seemed to catch Spain’s Eric Garcia in the throat and send him crashing onto the turf right next to the linesman. Garcia then got back onto his feet and received a punch to the throat from Paredes before Lionel Scaloni and a few Argentine coaches tried to prevent a larger fight.
As Scaloni and his staff tried to keep Garcia away, Gavi ran in from behind to defend his teammate, attempting to turn Paredes around. Thiago Almada moved to keep the two apart, but could not prevent Gavi from shoving Paredes’ face. In the ensuing scuffle, Gavi fell to the ground, seemingly pushed down by Almada’s intervention.
Paredes, though, pulled Gavi with his substitute’s bib. As this happened, the Spaniard tried to keep Paredes away with his left arm. The combination of these resulted in Gavi falling back to the turf.
By then, all the players and the benches intervened to try to calm things down and prevent things from breaking down further. These actions led to the Argentine getting his marching orders after the game.
Paredes became the first player in history to be sent off after the final whistle and the fourth Argentinian to see red at any point in a final. The ugly scenes overshadowed what had already been a forgettable night for Argentina on the pitch.
Argentina, outplayed in all thirds of the pitch by Spain, failed to register a shot of any kind through the first 116 minutes. The defending champions only managed to register their first shot in the 117th minute, when they were moments away from defeat.
Despite Spain’s dominance, the scores remained level in regulation. It was anyone’s game, with both teams having 11 players on the pitch. That changed in second-half injury time with Enzo Fernández seeing red for a wild tackle. Spain had a man advantage, but still could not get past Emiliano Martínez, who single-handedly kept La Albiceleste in the game with 10 saves in regulation.
Argentina even kept Spain out in the first period of extra time, with Martínez making one save of a Nico Williams header. It seemed as though La Albiceleste was hoping to hold the European champions to a draw at the end of 120 minutes and take the game to penalties. This was evident from their decision to sub out striker Julian Alvarez for defender Marcos Senesi in the 102nd minute.
But the resistance didn’t last long into the second period of extra time, as Ferran Torres volleyed home in the 106th minute. The fact that it came mere minutes after ‘The Final Countdown’ blared through the stadium was quite telling, and this goal proved to be enough to give Spain a second star. Interestingly, Spain’s first World Cup win also came on the back of a goal in the second half of extra time against a ten-man opposition.
Former players slam Paredes’ actions after the final whistle
Paredes had entered the final as a halftime substitute, picking up a yellow card shortly after coming on. He played the rest of the match on a knife’s edge, particularly after Enzo Fernández’s late dismissal left Argentina down to ten men. But the actions after the match certainly warranted a sending-off, and the referee, Slavko Vinčić, made sure he got the same.
Paredes’ acts infuriated pundit Joe Hart, who was analyzing the match for the BBC.
“Disgusting. There’s one player in that squad who had a bit of class, and that’s Lionel Messi, who went around and shook the hands of all the Spanish players,” he said.
Argentina’s Nahuel Molina seemed to be throwing a punch to the stomach of one of the Spanish players (Rodri) in the middle of it all.
“It sounds as though Argentina’s Nahuel Molina swung an arm at a Spain player as they ran to celebrate the World Cup win,” Sky Sports’ Dan Long said from New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. “He can surely expect the book to be thrown at him. Shocking behavior. That’s grim. Nobody likes a sore loser.”
The post-match chaos is likely to draw retrospective action from FIFA, with Paredes (and maybe Molina) facing the prospect of a lengthy ban. For Messi, playing what may be his final World Cup match, it means his Argentina side exits the tournament remembered for all the wrong reasons.
