Pushing and shoving: After the quarter-final between Argentina and France there was an altercation. A Stuttgart player was shown the red card.
The men of the French Olympic team won the classic football match against Argentina on Saturday by a very narrow margin of 1:0. The hosts celebrated their victory euphorically, but some of them went too far and caused a commotion on the pitch.
According to a report in the Austrian “Kronen-Zeitung”, the French player Enzo Millot ran to the Argentinian bench after the final whistle and celebrated there. The Argentinians saw this as a provocation and there were arguments on the pitch. Even though the game was already over, the referee showed the red card. Millot will therefore not be playing in the semi-finals.
“I celebrated in front of their bench, yes. It was out of euphoria,” admitted the professional, who is currently under contract with Stuttgart, according to the report. “The referee was a bit harsh in giving me a red card. It was a fair contest. That's football. If the referee doesn't understand that…” he is further quoted as saying.
Coach Thierry Henry showed little understanding for his player. “That's not football! Seeing a red card during the game is OK. But not like that. We don't want to see the scenes after the game,” he said angrily.
The French player's action could also be due to an incident that occurred during the South American Championship, where Argentine national team players sang racist songs aimed at players of French origin.
