“The biggest circus I have ever seen in my life” – Argentina lose 2-1 to Morocco in bizarre circumstances at 2024 Olympics

Football at the 2024 Olympics kicked off on Wednesday and it couldn’t have been more dramatic.

Argentina took on Morocco on the opening day of the tournament, the soft launch of the 2024 Olympics which has its official opening ceremony on Friday.

Although these are under-23 sides, Argentina will have been favourites for this game, so it was a shock to see them trail Morocco 2-0. The African nation went ahead just before half time through Soufiane Rahimi, and he doubled their lead from the penalty sport shortly after the break.

Giuliano Simeone halved the deficit midway through the second half, and Argentina equalised deep into injury time. And by deep into injury time, we mean in the 16th minute of 15 added on.

In what was already a feisty affair, that late equaliser kicked things off. The referee blew the whistle after the goal from Cristian Medina, with Argentina thinking they had rescued a point.

While Argentina were celebrating, they were targeted by cups and bottles thrown from the stands, with a flare also launched onto the pitch. Earlier in the game, there had been stoppages due to pitch invaders, bringing questions about security.

But an hour after the whistle went, it was revealed that the game was not over. The referee had in fact blown the whistle to take the players off the pitch, suspending the match for their safety. So, once the stadium had been emptied 90 minutes later, the players returned to the pitch for the final three minutes.

If that wasn’t enough drama, VAR got involved. As the game restarted, Argentina’s equaliser was ruled out by VAR, with one of Medina’s teammates offside in the build up. Remarkably, the check wasn’t made official until the game had kicked off again, with the referee going to the monitor to confirm once the players were all back on the pitch.

The game resumed with Morocco 2-1 up and they held onto that lead for the final three minutes to take the win.

Naturally, there were a lot of emotions flowing from Argentina manager Javier Mascherano.

“The biggest circus I have ever seen in my life,” he told reporters after the match.

He added: “Yesterday they broke into the property and robbed us. Thiago Almada’s things were stolen. They ask us for a credential for everything but then these things happen.

“Today they invaded the field seven times and then they threw firecrackers at us. They told us that it was finished 2-2. Neither we nor Morocco wanted to play it.”

Lionel Messi posted on his Instagram story: “Insolito” — meaning, strange or unusual.