Lionel Messi has hit back at accusations of referee favouritism following Argentina’s 2-1 win over England in the 2026 World Cup semi-finals.
Argentina staged a miraculous late comeback to seal their place in a second successive World Cup final on Wednesday night with goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez, cancelling out Anthony Gordon’s 55th-minute opener.
In an ill-tempered affair in Atlanta, referee Ismail Elfath was initially reluctant to hand out yellow cards, much to the annoyance of the England bench.
Argentina have been accused of receiving favourable refereeing decisions throughout the World Cup, with Egypt filing a complaint to FIFA after their 3-2 defeat to Lionel Scaloni’s side in the last-16, and England’s frustrations boiled over after Elliot Anderson was booked for a foul in the 37th-minute.
Switzerland also described the refereeing decisions in their quarter-final defeat to Argentina as ‘one-sided’ and ‘baffling’, but after the game against England, Messi insisted that La Albiceleste had not benefited from favouritism.
“Let people keep enjoying it,” Messi said.
“What this group has achieved is incredible – another final, we’ve come back to be world champions, we’re the best in the world after these four years, whether people like it or not, and no matter what they say.
“This proves that what we did wasn’t by chance and that nobody gave us anything. Reaching two World Cup finals is something few achieve, and this group did it.
“This group doesn’t surprise me. I know, and we knew what we were capable of. People out there had doubts, but when this group comes together and is united, it finds what it doesn’t have to give its all.”
