Argentina tops Chile for 3rd place in Copa America despite Messi red card

Sao Paulo — Argentina topped Chile 2-1 here Saturday in the Copa America third-place playoff, getting revenge for a pair of losses in finals despite a controversial red card shown to superstar forward Lionel Messi.

Argentina, which figured to be the more motivated side after losing to Chile in both the 2015 and 2016 finals of this South American championship and feeling that they were robbed in a 2-0 defeat to Brazil in the semifinals, jumped out to a two-goal lead before the match at Arena Corinthians turned into an ill-tempered battle of wills.

After an inauspicious start featuring a series of long passes and fouls that interrupted the flow of the game, Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero made Argentina’s attacking intentions known with a long blast that grazed the woodwork.

Messi’s creative genius then led to the first goal when, after being fouled near the midfield line, he caught Chile napping and quickly sent a through ball to Aguero, who dribbled around goalkeeper Gabriel Arias and then booted the ball into the back of the net in the 12th minute.

Things then went from bad to worse for Chile, who lost star forward Alexis Sanchez to injury in the 17th minute and went down 2-0 on the scoreboard five minutes later.

On that latter play, Giovani Lo Celso sent in a pass to Paolo Dybala that the Juventus forward managed to boot past Chile’s last line of defense.

Arias then waited too long before coming out of his goal area to try to make the save, allowing Dybala to flick the ball over him and just inside the far upright.

Down on the scoreboard, Chile relied on questionable tactics to try to get the momentum in their favor.

Although one hard tackle by Gary Medel failed to rattle Messi, a few minutes later he allowed himself to be provoked by the Chilean captain after the two bumped each other while chasing down a ball that went out of bounds.

The two got in each other’s faces and amid shoving and head butts the Paraguayan referee Mario Diaz de Vivar decided in the 37th minute to send off both Medel and Messi, who was expelled from a game for just the second time in his illustrious career.

The decision was a highly unpopular one, with the crowd at Arena Corinthians raining boos down on Diaz de Vivar at the end of the first half.

Chile then pulled one back after the break when Charles Aranguiz won a penalty on a foul by Lo Celso and Arturo Vidal converted the chance from the 12-yard mark to make the score 2-1 in the 59th minute.

The Chileans had a real chance to complete the comeback with Messi out of the game and more than a half hour left on the clock, although the Argentine side also played aggressively in search of an insurance goal.

But even though Eduardo Vargas had an opportunity on a shot that lacked precision and Angel Di Maria and Aguero nearly connected on a play that was broken up by Arias, the game remained scoreless the rest of the way.

Despite their third-place finish, however, the Argentine side leave this tournament with a bad taste in their mouths.

After Saturday’s match, Messi skipped the third-place award ceremony and then told reporters that the tournament had been marred by “corruption.”

“I didn’t go to the award ceremony because of a little bit of everything. I think we don’t need to be a part of that corruption. Of the lack of respect we faced during this Copa,” the FC Barcelona superstar said.

He went on to say that Argentina’s chances in the tournament were deliberately thwarted, an allusion to the referee’s refusal in the semifinal to use VAR to review two Argentine penalty appeals.

“I’m leaving with the sense that they didn’t let us be in the final, that we could’ve done more.”

Messi also expressed doubt that the officiating will be fair in Sunday’s final between Brazil and Peru.

“I hope VAR and the referees don’t have anything to do with (the outcome) of this final, and that Peru can compete, because they have the team to do so, but I see that as unlikely.”

- Line-ups:

2. Argentina: Franco Armani; Juan Foyth, German Pezzella, Nicolas Otamendi, Nicolas Tagliafico; Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes, Giovani Lo Celso (m.90 Ramiro Funes Mori); Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala (m.67 Angel Di Maria) and Sergio Aguero (m.81 Matias Suarez).

Head coach: Lionel Scaloni.

1. Chile: Gabriel Arias; Paulo Diaz, Mauricio Isla, Gary Medel, Gonzalo Jara (m.50 Guillermo Maripan), Jean Beausejour; Erick Pulgar, Charles Aranguiz (m.83 Nicolas Castillo), Arturo Vidal; Eduardo Vargas and Alexis Sanchez (m.17 Junior Fernandes).

Head coach: Reinaldo Rueda.

Goals: 1-0, m.12: Sergio Aguero; 2-0, m.22: Paulo Dybala; 2-1, m.59 Arturo Vidal.

Referee: Paraguay’s Mario Diaz de Vivar, who sent off Messi and Medel (m.37) and showed a yellow card to Beausejour, Vidal, Pulgar, Pezzella, Paredes, Foyth and Tagliafico.

The match was the third-place playoff of the 2019 Copa America and was played at Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo before 44,269 spectators. EFE-EPA

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