COPA AMERICA: BRAZIL STAR PRAISES MESSI; SLAMS REFEREE OVER ARGENTINA'S LOSS

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Brazil beat Argentina 2-0 in the Copa America 2019 semifinals, but the story went far beyond just the scoreline, with Lionel Messi slamming the referee for his poor performance.

“They were not better than us. They found the net early and the second goal came from a penalty [to Aguero] they didn’t award,” Messi told reporters.

“They [the officials] had booked a lot of bulls***, but they didn’t even check the VAR, that’s incredible.

“That happened all over the game. At the first glance of contact, they ruled in their [Brazil’s] favour and this kind of bulls*** distracted us from the game.

“There is no excuses for us, but we need to review this, analyse it and let’s hope CONMEBOL does something about it.”

And now, Dani Alves of Brazil has echoed the feelings of Messi, pointing out just how poor the officiating was in the encounter.

“The referee was more nervous than us, I understand Leo,” Dani Alves said.

A number of decisions seemed to go against Argentina in the game, with Messi feeling that at least two penalties should have been given in favour of the South American giants.

Nicolas Otamendi and Sergio Aguero were also involved in tackles that were not deemed to be fouls by the referee.