It was ´bulls***´ – Messi blasts refereeing after Argentina´s Copa America loss

An angry Lionel Messi blasted the refereeing after Argentina were denied two penalties in a Copa America semi-final loss to Brazil.

Goals from Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino saw Brazil overcome Argentina 2-0 in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday.

However, Argentina hit the woodwork twice through Sergio Aguero and Messi, and twice had penalty shouts turned down.

Nicolas Otamendi went down under a heavy challenge from Arthur following a corner and Aguero appeared to be brought down by Dani Alves, the latter occurring just before Firmino’s sealer.

Messi felt Argentina deserved two spot-kicks, with the VAR – which has dominated headlines at the Copa America – not asking the referee to look at either incident.

“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.”

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Messi, whose wait for a first senior trophy with the national team continues, praised Argentina’s performance against Brazil.

“I think we played a great game. We made a great effort and they were not superior to us,” he said.

Messi added: “If I have to help from somewhere, I’m going to do it. I felt very good with this group.”