Chaos, crowd trouble and confusion has marred the opening day of Olympics football competition in France.
Wednesday afternoon’s men’s match between Argentina and Morocco in Group B saw ugly scenes erupt in Saint-Etienne as fans invaded the pitch and objects were hurled from the stands after Argentine Cristian Medina scored a last-gasp equaliser in the 16th minute of second-half stoppage time at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
That most dramatic close-range header from the Boca Juniors midfielder - which came after the ball had twice struck the crossbar in quick succession - had appeared to snatch an unlikely 2-2 draw for Javier Mascherano’s young Argentina side, with Giuliano Simeone having earlier hit back following a Moroccan double from Soufiane Rahimi that saw the Al-Ain forward net either side of half-time.
However, chaos then broke out as angry Morocco fans invaded the pitch as footage appeared to show firecrackers thrown, with objects including scores of plastic bottles also hurled from the stands in regrettable scenes that led to the players being led off the field to protect their safety.
It later transpired that the game had not been concluded by the referee as most had thought, but rather suspended with three minutes to go following the crowd disorder. The Olympics website initially showed the match as being "interrupted".
The order was eventually given for the game to be resumed and completed more than four hours after it had initially kicked off at 2pm BST, with another layer of significant drama added as Medina’s equaliser was then ruled out for offside by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
The last three minutes of the match were eventually finished in front of empty stands after a delay lasting over an hour, with Morocco holding on to claim a valuable opening 2-1 victory before further Group B matches against Ukraine and Iraq to be held in Saint-Etienne and Nice respectively.
Fans had earlier been ordered to leave the stadium following the disorder with a message flashed up on the scoreboard that read: “Your session has been suspended, please leave the stadium.”
Before the game, Argentina’s national anthem had been subjected to heavy boos following the recent racism storm involving the senior men’s side’s song about French players following their Copa America triumph in the USA.
Argentina’s men’s rugby sevens side were also loudly booed ahead of their Group B opener against Kenya at the Stade de France earlier on Wednesday.
