France and Argentina clash at final whistle of Olympic grudge match

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France’s increasingly fierce rivalry with Argentina spilled over after their Olympics football quarter-final, with several on-pitch confrontations and then players running down the tunnel to continue their arguments. 
Police entered the stands to prevent disorder between fans while squads and staff from both countries clashed for several minutes at the end of France’s 1-0 win. France’s Enzo Millot was shown a red card after the game for his part in the fracas and further punishments may loom when the chaotic video evidence has been unpicked.
It was nearly the perfect night for France. A win which eliminated their rivals with a goal scored by a player with a Congolese father, riposte to the racism which emerged with Enzo Fernández’s video after the Copa America. Jean-Philippe Mateta headed in Michael Olise’s corner but what happened after the final whistle will overshadow their win.“Argentina wanted to kill the party, but they made the party even better” was Mateta’s view, but Millot appeared to provoke the Argentina bench at the conclusion of the game, hence his sending off. French players afterwards accused the Argentinians of being particularly talkative during the game, but were certainly no innocents themselves. Loïc Bade loomed over a prone Lucas Beltrán at one point, making his point at the limit of acceptable aggression.“It was an important match because we felt insulted, all of France felt insulted and we ended up as the winners of the game,” said Bade. “They insulted throughout the game, I don’t know what they were saying because they were speaking Spanish, but they were gesturing.”
France’s Olympic team manager Thierry Henry would rival the world’s top diplomats as a calm head for defusing tense situations, but he did not defend Millot. The coach expressed annoyance, saying he could understand losing composure in the heat of a match but not antagonising opponents after its conclusion. He was not pleased either with his side’s carelessness with a one goal lead, choosing to attack recklessly in the final minutes rather than playing keep-ball. “You have to kill the game,” he said. “We’re not here to have fun.”There was little of that in Bordeaux on a night soundtracked by anger, played by a power trio of boos, jeers and whistles. It did not feel very Olympian, but it was certainly cathartic for France, who greeted the Argentinian’s warm-ups and national anthem with fury. Special noise was reserved during the team announcements for the names of Nicolás Otamendi and Julián Alvarez, the two members of Javier Mascherano’s team who had also played in the Copa América.  
This rivalry started as a simple footballing tit-for-tat. France knocked out Argentina in the 2018 World Cup, the game of Benjamin Pavard’s outside-boot heatseeker. Argentina earned revenge in the fever dream of the 2022 final. Their fans sang vile songs about France then, but the players were at it too after retaining the Copa América last month.This has snowballed into a minor international crisis, overshadowing Argentina’s president Javier Milei meeting Emmanuel Macron for the first time two weeks ago. Milei’s vice-president Victoria Villarruel did little to lower the temperature: “No colonialist country is going to intimidate us for a field song or for telling the truths that they do not want to admit,” she said. “Enough of simulating indignation, hypocrites.”
So with the matter distinctly unresolved the meetings between these nations so far at this Olympics have been fraught. Argentina were booed during their rugby sevens quarter final defeat by France at Stade de France last week and received similar treatment here in Bordeaux.  At times it felt like Argentina had been advised to do their bit for international relations and let the hosts win. No more so than when Luciano Gondou leaned back and horrible skied a chance to equalise deep into 10 minutes of injury time. Mateta seemingly put the result beyond doubt with a second but it was disallowed after a long VAR delay, prolonging the agony and the aggro.
There was definitely a melee on the field that was taklen down the tunnel.
We hear that Enzo Millot was sent off for his behaviour after the final whistle so that’s him out of Monday’s semi-final.
 
Semi-final line-up:
Morocco vs Spain, Marseille 5pmFrance v Egypt, Lyon 8pm
Final, Parc des Princes, 8pm
So the stramash cannot have detained them too long. 
They spaffed a couple of golden chances so unless something was said, which it probably was, there was no reason for Argentina to feel so aggrieved. They started the ill feeling with their racist bilge in the first place. 
But it continues into the tunnel as both sets of players run down to carry it on. Mascherano was to the fore. The referee and linesmen are the only ones left on the pitch. 
 
And it’s all kicked off between the players. Argentina were always at boiling point. 
France’s naivety in refusing to take it into the corner almost invites disaster but the defence manages to thwart the umpteenth Argentina counter-attack. 
Gondou makes the run down the inside right as Argentina attack down the left and is prime position for a left-foot finish from the cross 10 yards out but slices his shot over the bar. Another howler, though Olise was there too. 
France give the ball away foolishly and Argentina break quickly with requisite urgency until Simeone uses Etcheverry as a decoy and shoots from 20 yards. It keeps rising and on into orbit. 
In comes the free kick and when it’s bustled across the box it falls to Otamendi to try a bicycle kick and Olise nips it away before he can gyroscope his ageing body. He was offside anyway. 
France refuse to commit anyone up for the corner and Argentina pick it off and head upfield. Magassa is immediately booked for a foul and a shove on Etcheverry when he hit the deck. 
Smart save from Restes at his near post saves Gondou’s shot from the left. He closed his legs to make the block. France take the rebound upfield and earn a corner and take their time over it.
Last France sub: 
Magassa ⇢ Millot. 
Argentina free-kick 45 yards out. Almada floats it to the back post, Otamendi heads it back to 20 yards and the last sub Etcheverry snatches at it and blazes a shot over. 
After all that, the fourth official signals 10 minutes of added time. 
Threatening to boil over in the stands after the VAR cancellation of Mateta’s goal. One fan in the upper tier chucked a cup towards the pitch when a foul on Locko was not given, thankfully it did not reach much further than row N of the tier below. Both benches looked animated as the referee checked his monitor will be interesting to see handshakes, or not, when this game concludes. I suspect we might have some extra time.
The referee judges that Akliouche went over the ball with reckless play and the goal is scrubbed out. He addresses the crowd in strident English to tell them why and also books Akliouche.
You could say Fernandez’s slide was complicit in the foul and that being caught by Akliouche’s foot didn’t effect the ricochet. 
For an Akliouche foul in the build-up. 
France 2 Argentina 0 (Olise)  Henry is pumped on the sidelines, running to the corner to celebrate. Kalimuendo turns and drives in from the right to feed Akliouche who dribbles into the box and is tackled by Ezequiel Fernandez and the ball ricochets off his shin and through to Olise who shoots through Garcia’s legs, clipping the defender’s knee as it went through so not a perfect nutmeg and is deflected in. 
Akliouche, the Monaco midfielder, has dazzling feet and knocks it away from Garcia who is late planting his boot and so stands on his foot and is booked. 
Gondou storms down the left and cuts it back to Fiorentina’s Beltran who thumps his left foot shot into Bade. Mateta has the armband and gees up the crowd when France break to earn a corner. 
Two France changes:
Akliouche ⇢ Chotard
Kalimuendo ⇢ Lacazette. 
Otamendi is livid to be penalised for knocking Sildillia down as they went up for a header in the box. 
The rarely seen substituted second-half substitute. 
Gondou ⇢ Soler. 
Argentina switch to three at the back. 
France break after mugging the so far hapless Alvarez. This time they hold on to the ball but they are showing their fatigue and Henry needs to inject some freshness. 
Alvarez holds on to the ball 35 yards out after some zippy interpassing and he turns it round the corner for Soler on the overlap but he fires his cross straight at the keeper. 
France corner on the right and almost a recreation of their opening goal only this time Mateta bludgeons Olise’s near-post cross into the side-netting. 
68′ Ohhh… les frissons dans le stade ! Mateta reprend une nouvelle fois de la tête sur corner ! Ça passe juste au dessus.🇫🇷1-0🇦🇷 | #FRAARG | #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/khilJhNB53
All getting a bit Coldplay now inside L’Elephant Blanc stadium here in Bordeaux, thousands in the crowd have turned on their phone torches for no apparent reason and are waving them in the air like they just don’t care (about their battery life). Game has calmed down which is what Francee would have wanted. 
A bit more composure from Lacazette in particular and they might have had a chance to double their lead. Biggest cheer of the night was for the bookings for Mascherano and sub Beltran for cheeking the ref.
Mateta almost pulls off a one-two to play Lacazette into the box to shoot but when Amione comes round on the cover, Lacazette clips his heels before getting to the pass. 
Alvarez is teed up to the left of the penalty spot but pumps his half-volley over the bar. good lay-off from Beltran. Perhaps it bobbled a little? Nah. Looked sweet on the replay. 
Time for Beltran to come on, already on a yellow card. 
Beltran ⇢ Zenon
Locko ⇢ Truffert.
Egypt have won the third quarter-final, beating Paraguay on penalties and join Morocco and Spain in the semis. 
Lacazette dribbles through the middle and seems to dive when Amione sticks his foot out. The game is on a knife edge in terms of simmering over decorum wise. 
Beltran was the booked substitute not Gondou. 
Almada’s close control and wall pass sets up Alvarez for a left-foot shot from the right of the D which he floats dpwn Restes’ throat. 
It’s all Argentina in terms of possession as France can’t keep the ball. But they are yet to thread the needle with the final pass. 
Alvarez breaks down the right, cuts in to cross and latches on to the rebound when he fires it straight into Lukeba. he is then judged to have barged Lukeba over illegally and Mascherano is booked for protesting as is a sub, Luciano Gondou, for some sarcasm. 
France waste the free-kick with a long ball up the left that Chotard does well to keep from going for a goal-kick. 
Argentina have continued where they left off as the dominant side. Medina is booked for a high boot on Lukeba as they convereged on a bouncing ball. 
Lacazette brings down Alvarez just outside the France penalty area. Free-kick, right of centre, parallel with the post. Alvarez tries to take it quickly and hits it flush into the wall. Millot is penalised for a foul after Olise’s counter breaks down when he runs out of gas on a solo 60 yard burst and heads back towards his own goal. 
Fernandez lofts a diagonal out to the right. Simeone wins it in the air but heads it infield and Truffert snaps on to the ball before Simeone can take a second touch. 
Alvarez can’t make the ball stick after Argentina shift it up to him and Lacazette brings it away, drawing the foul. 
Half-time sub for Argentina: Soler of Lanus replaces Di Cesare of Racing. Soler goes to left-back and Amione comes infield to centre-half. 
It is a game on the cusp of something, France need to work out how to shut it down. Argentina making all of the running as the half drew on, and they are unlucky not to go in level given the number of terrifying balls which flew across France’s box from wide areas. France have attacked them centrally but been let down by loose control from their attacking players when the ball has reached them in promising territory. 
The other possibility is of wide-scale temper loss. Mateta got embroiled in some near-literal Argy-bargy towards the end of the half after a confected row over whether Argentina should stop play for the injury to Truffert. Referee intervened in the end anyway, no harm done. But you can see that there are a few players relaxed about this spilling over. Otamendi has been in the referee’s ear throughout and Mateta, Kone and Lacazette all take turns to have a word before heading down the tunnel. 
Very even game on the whole after a terrific start from France. Argentina grew into it and had a lot of probing spells in the last 20 minutes. Otamendi is still going on at the referee as is Lacazette but eventually both walk off for an orange segment. 
Argentina are riled with the referee for stopping play after Truffert collided with Rulli. Argentina mob the referee and Truffert and Mateta goes to intervene. Otamendi points at him from close range and tells him to do one. Lacazette defuses the situation, the captain ushering his strike partmer away. 
Garcia makes a rare foray down the right and crosses. Truffert sticks out a leg and the ball whistles across the face of goal, two yards from the line, and France scramble it upfield. 
Zenon made a fine run but looked up and found Alvarez and Simeone nowhere near the box. He had to settle for a corner but is rightly hacked off with the lack of support. France defend the corner competently. 
Three minutes of stoppage time are signalled. 
France break through the middle with Olise dribbling infield then hitting an inside-out pass as Mateta peeled away from Otamendi who gave him a shove that knocked him off balaance as he ran to the byline to cross straight down Rulli’s throat. 
Kone is booked which will mean a suspension if they make the semi-final for a sliding foul on Amione who was in full flight. Argentina now have the momentum but they are guilty of overplaying around the France penalty area. 
The France fans are bouncing as Kone receives treatment. 
Something of a sitter for Simeone, Diego’s lad, at the back post. Fernandez slipped the ball down the left of the box for his Boca team-mate Medina. He shoots into the sliding Bade and the ball comes back to him even though he is now on his backside. He improvises a lobbed pass with his right across the box and Simeone races on to head it eight yards out and Restes scrambling across from near to far post but he thumps it over the bar. 
Amione goes down when Mateta backs into him when challenging for a header. Probably a foul but not the violation of Amione he seems to be implying with his two rolls.
Olise was geeing up the crowd before taking his corner, it doesn’t feel like they need much encouragement. Notwithstanding the persistent Mexican waving which I think we can all agree is a scourge on not just football but the Olympics as a whole, they’re making a great noise. Not quite sold out here but the Allez Les Bleus chants are plenty loud.
Just a sense that the game is a bit loose for the hosts at the minute. Not much midfield to speak of for either team which means Argentina have had a few glimpses of goal without having to work very hard for them. It’s the sort of match which could run away from a team who seemed comfortable. Bit of a coaching challenge for Thierry Henry. 
Olise lollipops his way through three stepovers after Almada loses the ball cheaply and Kone drives it upfield to the new Bayern Munich man. Olsie takes it on the right side  of the box, shows off his skills but can’t find an opening so sries to stab a shot through the narrowest of gaps and can’t manage to force it. 
Zenon spins in the corner, Otamendi gets free and heads it into the turf whence it sits up nicely for Restes. 
Alvarez, wearing the No 9 shirt, drifts out to the right and cuts back in to roll the ball across the 18-yard line for Fernandez who rifles a left-foot shot that was heading for the top right but Restes was a match for it and slapped it behind at full-stretch. 
What is it with the Ligue 1 talent drain to the Bundesliga? Sildillia plays for Freiburg, Lukeba for RB Leipzig, Kone for Gladbach and Millot for Stuttgart? 
Allez Les Bleus! Rolls around the stadium. France break through the Argentina lines again with a lovely pass from Chotard down the left for Truffert. The Rennes left-back whips over the cross and Otamendi sticks it behind for a corner which Argentina scramble away for another.  
Rulli makes an extraordinary and unnecessary headlong forward dive to double punch a free-kick away and inadvertently sets up a break for Zenon and the Boca midfielder hares up the left, stays ahead of his pursuers and then drags his left-foot shot from 20 yards past the far post. 
Excellent save by Rulli after Lacazette set up Mateta to hammer a shot that the Ajax keeper turns away with steel-like wrists. 
The words “GOAL! BUT!” Flash up on the big screen, which Premier League teams should adopt to warn of the possibility of VAR involvement and France have the lead with a routine which may have been perfected on a training ground in Beckenham. This is proceeding exactly as Theirry Henry and fans of international diplomacy would want. A feelgood early lead, the wronged nation feeling good about itself and a Mexican wave after nine minutes. Only minor hint of needle so far was Otamendi moaning to ref about Lacazette going down too easily and a few others sticking their beaks in.  
Brilliant chance for Millot after exceptional work by Mateta bullocking down the right. he storms past Amione and crosses to the left of the penalty spot. Millot takes it first time but his cushioned trap isn’t soft enough and he spins to try to get another touch with a flick of the heel but the chance has gone and Otamendi stops it with his shins. 
Kone takes the ball off Almada and glides 40 yards upfield to pass to Lacazette who shields it on the left but cannot set up the cross. Argentina come back and play it long to try to hit France on the counter but again France defend solidly. 
Mascherano is telling his players to try to keep hold of the ball and calm down. They have been drawn into playing too frenetically. 
Lacazette goes down clutching his face after fouling Fernnadez and is given the free-kick. Ezequiel Fernandez was trying to wriggle away from his clutches. 
Argentina take a quick free-kick, sliding it down the left for Zenon but he is tackled by Millot who only just fails to release Olise up the right as his pass skips out of play for a throw. 
France have started like a train, roared on by a raucous crowd and if they can keep feeding off each other and keep the tempo high, it’s going to feel like being swarmed by angry blue wasps for Argentina. 
France 1-0 Argentina (Mateta)  A goal made in Thornton Heath. Olise takes the corner with his left from the right and he bends an in swinger to the near post where Mateta maks the perfect front-post peel and heads it in at the far post. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM/ MATETA’S IN THE ROOM/ THERE AINT NO STRIKER BETTER/ THAN JEAN-PHILLIPE MATETA.
Olise pops up down the right and is fed down the line by Balde. He tries to race up the byline but Amione block-tackles him and the ball goes behind for a corner. 
Michael Olise brings the ball forward in the No10 position, at the tip of a diamond midfield, and demands a free-kick when trying to get past Medina but the referee tells him to get up. 
Blimey, the co-commentator is Adam Virgo. Niche even for Eurosport. Amione, who is at left-back for Argentina, is tripped by Millot and Argentina have a free-kick on halfway.  
Predictable disrespect of the Himno Nacional Argentino, but the booing died down as it went on, returning as it concluded. A chap close to the press box was standing proudly flapping his flag with no issues. You sense that the countries might be able to put this unpleasant incident behind them if this game goes off without a hitch. Which probably means with a France win of some variety. 
La Marseillaise is raucously sung. It remains the king of anthems. No, you’re wrong. 
Is resoundingly booed and whistled. The players belt it out as many in the crowd continue to jeer. Boos greet its ending, too. 
France in all blue. Argentina in the greatest of all international kits. France’s shirts are by Nike even though the Olympic supplier is Le Coq Sportif. FFF muts insist on its own sponsors. 
France fans in Bordeaux giving Argentina un piece of their mind ahead of a potentially aggy QF in the Olympic football. pic.twitter.com/j6Jwouta6H
France  Restes, Sildialli, Bade, Lukeba, Truffert, Millot, Kone, Chotard, Olise, Mateta, Lacazette. Subs  Nkambadio, Akliouche, Kalimuendo, Doue, Locko, Magassa, Cherki. 
Argentina  Rulli, Garcia, Di Cesare, Otamendi, Amione, Zenon, Medina, Ezequiel Fernandez, Almada, Simeone, Alvarez. Subs  Brey, Soler, Echeverri, Lujan, Hezze, Gondou, Beltran. 
Bonsoir from Bordeaux, where the Argentinian goalkeepers have just come out for their warm-up to fierce boos and whistles from a stadium that is perhaps a quarter full. That opprobrium will only increase as more fans make their way in. There’s an E Fernandez starting in central midfield but thankfully it’s Ezequiel from Boca Juniors rather than Enzo after his video nasty following the Copa America.
It is jumping outside, huge queues for the bar and food stands in a makeshift fanzone three hours before kick-off. Argentine fans vastly outnumbered but those in Messi shirts were not being harassed by a family-heavy crowd.
Before this evening descends into potential unpleasantness a word on this stadium which is absolutely stunning. Held up by hundreds of stately white poles which means you can see the banks of seats from underneath, quite mind-bending, quite beautiful, shame about the team who play here. 
FC Girondins de Bordeaux are six-time champions of France but will start next season in the French equivalent of League One (confusingly not named “Ligue Un”… in fact perhaps that’s our system being confusing). They’ve been punished with relegation for financial impropriety. They might be struggling to fill 42,000 for visits from the likes of Châteauroux and Quevilly-Rouen.
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the Olympic men’s football quarter-final between France and Argentina from the Matmut Atlantique in Bordeaux. The rivalry between the senior teams, after France knocked Argentina out of the 2018 Russia World Cup at the R16 stage and Argentina beat the defending champions on penalties in the final in Doha four years later, was already intense before Enzo Fernández was foolish enough to join in singing a racist song bout France’s black players and even more foolishly live-streamed it. He has subsequently apologised after being criticised by a couple of Chelsea team-mates but precious few of his compatriots or, indeed, high profile players. But the men wearing the Argentina shirt tonight, including Nicolás Otamendi and Julián Alvarez will feel the wrath of the crowd tonight. Little wonder it has been called Le Clash with a nod to Messrs Strummer, Jones, Simonon and Headon/Chimes. 
France, coached by Thierry Henry and captained by Alexandre Lacazette, Gooner royalty and minor royalty respectively, dispatched USA, Guinea and New Zealand in the group, scoring seven and keeping three clean sheets. Argentina opened with defeat by Morocco, the match with the 17 minutes of stoppage time and a VAR intervention almost two hours after the players had left the field because of crowd incursions, but then beat Iraq and Ukraine to qualify for the knockout phase.
Argentina’s head coach, Javier Mascherano, has won two Olympic gold medals as a player on both occasions of Argentina’s triumph in 2004 and 2008, while France have won the title only once, in 1984, the same year they won the Euros at home. “Another competition is starting, everything changes. We haven’t conceded a single goal at the tournament. You could concede one in the quarter-final, then you’re out. We need to stay composed and focused. [Argentina are] a very good team: They have youth and experience in every department.”