It was exciting and fierce on the field, but even more so off the pitch. Without Lionel Messi and with a ticket for World Cup already in their pocket, the Argentinians came to Chile and still won the match, putting the hosts into a very difficult position, as they are still fighting for a chance to travel to Qatar. Angel di Maria and Lautaro Martinez were the scorers for the guests, but the events before the match were the one thing which filled the morning headlines. Apparently, Chile were not such a good hosts and the Argentinians had numerous complains, from the long and exhausting airport controls and tests, to the treatment in the hotel (no water, no air conditioner). In the end, even the Chilean minister of interior had to intervene and criticize the guests, claiming their Covid papers were a mess. A disappointing United win against Burnley thanks to Greenwood’s braceAtletico Madrid midfielder Rodrigo De Paul said Chile mistreated Argentina during their trip to Calama.”They didn’t even let us go to the bathroom when we got off the plane. They cut off our air conditioners, we had no water and they made sirens sound throughout the stay. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but, as an Argentine, every team that comes to my country, we have to make them feel as comfortable as possible and we have to win on the playing field where it belongs” said De Paul after the match. Other Argentine players were more direct than their teammate. Right at the airport, after their delegation was held for nearly two hours due to various controls and tests, Nicholas Otamendi expressed his annoyance on his Instagram account. “Well, today we sleep here. But nothing happenseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee“ he wrote. Messi still not feeling well after Covid, will miss World Cup qualifiersAston Villa keeper Emiliano “Dibu” Martinez angered many with his two two stories, especially with the second one, which he later deleted. He filmed a scene in which one of the police dogs was searching the luggage and stated: “And well, as always, quilombo, quilombo.” In addition, he joked about the animal’s work by commenting: “Uh, he found a Sugus. He Found a Sugus!” Sugus is a candy made by a Swiss company, but quilombo is far worse, beacuse it represents a Brazilian hinterland settlement founded by people of African origin. Most of the inhabitants of quilombos, called quilombolas, were maroons, a term for escaped slaves.Who tf do he think he is. My agenda against emi martinez starts today pic.twitter.com/6LNGyWtlRG— Esteban🇨🇱 (@BVB_Esteban) January 27, 2022 The second one was even worse, as Martinez shared another photo of the airport, but the most striking thing was the pair of emoticons he chose to describe the situation: a nauseated face and a Chilean flag. He deleted that one, but it was too late. The Chilean Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Delgado, spoke to the press about Otamendi and Martinez. “I read somewhere that a player spoke of ‘quilombo’, the real quilombo was the Argentine delegation with their papers. It strikes me that this player or these players have not been alerted by those who coordinate the Argentine team of the real mess they had. I want to say several things to them, when they talk about ‘quilombo’, when they speak ill of those who are the health personnelI want to explain to them why they may not know, but Chile has become a world leader in vaccination, in testing, due to the added work of those health officials they make fun of. So a little more respect for Chile, a little more respect for the Chilean flag because I saw a story there that put a rather unpleasant emoticon next to the flag. I ask for respect and hopefully during this day you can refer to the issue from the Argentine delegation and apologize to Chile. I would invite them to be more humble to admit that they had a mess in their papers“ said the minister.🤢🇨🇱 pic.twitter.com/vf1pS9cttw— facho (@FachoNernandez) January 28, 2022 On the field, the cameras caught the ’welcome’ present which new Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez got from Chile defender Maripan. He was replacing Lautaro Martinez and passed close to Monaco defender, who tried to knock him down with a little kick, which Alvarez avoided and continued as if nothing had happened. Even without the ball in play, Gary Medel, a former Boca midfielder, approached him and said something to Alvarez. The Pitbull approached where River’s striker was with a pure smile.
