Copa America 2019: “Of course, Argentina have reasons to complain,” admits Brazil legend Rivaldo

What’s the story?

Brazil legend and former Barcelona attacking midfielder Rivaldo has spoken up about the refereeing in Brazil’s 2-0 win over Argentina and discussed about the use of VAR in the Copa America campaign. According to Rivaldo, the Argentines had reasons to complain about the refereeing.

In case you didn’t know...

Argentina came second best against a well drilled Brazil side in Belo Horizonte. The home side qualified thanks to goals from Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino. Jesus opened the scoring at the 19th minute mark but despite attempts to attack, Lionel Messi and his team saw their hopes of advancing to the final dashed. Their hopes were dashed after Firmino netted Brazil's second goal of the night.

After the match, Messi and his coach voiced their unhappiness over the decisions made by the referee. Argentina were hard done by some terrible refereeing decisions and VAR was not put to use when the occasion called for. The Argentina Football Association has since lodged a complaint against the refereeing during their defeat to Brazil.

Messi has endured a terrible experience in Copa America this summer. First he complained about the quality of the football fields and now, the Argentina football team is disappointed with the refereeing decisions that had gone against them.

The heart of the matter

Speaking to Betfair (via Marca), Rivaldo explained that he sympathizes with Argentina’s condition and understands their anger about the whole saga. He said,

"Of course, Argentina have reasons to complain."

"Brazil have a better team right now, but there were two penalties in their favour and VAR didn't intervene."

Rivaldo further added that he does not support VAR. He commented,

"I've been saying for a long time that I don't agree with VAR."

"It hurts football to have so many stoppages and it only benefits referees, who now delegate responsibility.”

"If in Europe it causes chaos then it's normal that there are even more frequent problems in South America."

What’s next?

Argentina will face Chile to fight for the third place while Brazil will be going for glory against Peru in the final.