Olympic Games rocked by 'embarrassing' crowd scenes as Morocco stuns Argentina in football

The Olympic Games football match between Argentina and Morocco has descended into chaotic scenes after the players were forced to leave the field for two hours and the game suspended after projectiles were thrown at the athletes. Morocco caused a huge upset on the first day of Olympics competition having defeated Argentina 2-1, but the scenes at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard will go down as one of the most farcical in Olympics history.

Morocco were 2-1 up heading towards the final whistle in their Group B match when 16 minutes of stoppage time was added on. This left fans and viewers baffled as to why there was so much stoppage time to play.

And Argentina thought they got the equaliser when Cristian Medina scored with a header in the 16th minute of stoppage time. This prompted chaotic crowd scenes as projectiles were launched onto the field.

Players were forced into the dressing rooms when several spectators ran onto the field. Police entered the fray as the match was quickly suspended. Both Argentina and Morocco left the field for more than two hours with players unsure if the match would be restarted.

There was confusion surrounding whether the game was over or not with the referee never blowing the final whistle after what was thought to be the equaliser. The big screen at the stadium read: 'Your session has been suspended please make your way to the nearest exit'.

But after the two-hour long stoppage players entered the field to play out the final three minutes. To add to the drama, the referee then deemed Medina's goal was offside after VAR had taken a look at the equaliser and ruled it out.

Morocco held on to their 2-1 lead to create history for the country at the Olympics. However, the scenes at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard have created international headlines with the 2024 Olympics getting off to a farcical start.

Football world reacts to Olympic Games chaos

Argentinian World Cup winner Lionel Messi was watching the drama unfold and wrote: 'Unbelievable', on his social media account. Benfica defender Nicolas Otamendi was playing for Argentina and took aim at how the match finished after the break.

“It’s a historic embarrassment. Nothing like this has ever happened before," he said. “Morocco didn’t want to play and neither did we. We waited for an hour and forty minutes, but no one told us anything. It makes you feel powerless because these are the Olympic Games.”

RELATED:

• Matildas' rivals caught in 'spying' scandal at Olympics after complaint

• Fans hit out as video of Matildas players goes global before Olympics

Argentina coach Javier Mascherano was left fuming with the result and claimed he had never seen a game unfold quite like it did in France. “I have not been a coach for long, but never in my career as a player have I seen a situation like that,” he said. “It is a circus. But that is how it is. We cannot control it. I told the boys that now we need to look forward, try to get the six points that will allow us to qualify and that all this should fill us with energy and anger for what we have ahead of us."

Mascherano claimed the captains had decided not to restart the match after projectiles had been thrown onto the field, but claimed they went on to finish the contest in front of an empty stadium. “The captains decided not to play on at that point, and as time went on different versions (of events) started to appear,” he said.

“The annoying thing is that the match was suspended. If you are going to review something, review it just after the incident,” Mascherano added of the disallowed goal. “At no point were we told the goal was not valid.” Fans were left bewildered at the scenes with one fan claiming the 14 minutes of added on stoppage time was a 'scandal' in itself.