Argentina beat Brazil 4-1 in the early hours of this morning, and it was a result very much enjoyed by the world champions.
As oddly often appears to be the case, the Argentina team had managed to get themselves wound up about comments from the opposition which has been misreported. That then turned the whole thing unsavoury and Argentina players tried to goad Brazil and humiliate them, during and after the match.
At one point Aston Villa’s Emiliano Marrtinez was juggling the ball before kicking it, which got a huge reaction from the Argentine crowd.
The Aston Villa player also got a reaction from the national team’s manager Lionel Scaloni, who immediately made it clear the goalkeeper needed to cut that right out.
After the match, Martinez spoke about the incident in the mixed zone and told local media he’s aware Scaloni was being serious.
TyC Sports quote the Aston Villa stopper as saying: “These are things I sometimes don’t do at my club. I just had the ball in the air, but that’s fine. I know the coach doesn’t like that kind of thing. If I’d have played three more tricks, he might have taken me off. He’s kind of crazy.
“We treated it like a final. We didn’t care about having qualified for the World Cup before the match; we wanted to win today and it showed. We want to continue making history. Not just by winning titles, but by showing the fans pride, desire, and sacrifice. The truth is, people come, they pay to buy tickets, and the least we can give them is the performance we gave them today.”
