What was meant to be an evening of celebration has quickly turned to a PR disaster.
Argentina won their record breaking 16th CONMEBOL Copa America title when they beat Colombia 1-0 in the early hours of Monday.
Lautaro Martinez’s winner in extra time was the difference as former Red Devil Angel Di Maria retired from international football with another honour.
However, things have taken a downturn since then thanks to a controversial video shared online.
Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez recorded an Instagram live video of himself and some of his Argentina teammates celebrating their victory after the game.
Nothing wrong with that.
However, the content of what was recorded has reverberated around the football world.
Enzo and some other Argentina players were singing racist and discriminatory words that were aimed at the heritage of some of the players from the France national team. Argentina beat France on penalties to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The French Football Federation have subsequently released a statement where they’ve said that they will launch a legal complaint and have already raised objections to FIFA and the Argentina Football Association. Several of Enzo’s teammates at Chelsea have since unfollowed him on social media with Wesley Fofana has posted on social media that the clip shows ‘uninhibited racism’.
This is a serious deal.
Of course, there are two Manchester United stars who are also part of the Argentina squad.
Alejandro Garnacho and Lisandro Martinez were part of the CONMEBOL Copa America 2024 squad for Argentina and many observers have been waiting to see what their involvement was and how the club will respond.
Manchester United have now responded to questions around the pair.
According to Manchester Evening News, Manchester United have distanced themselves from what has happened in the video.
Garnacho is not seen in the footage at all. Martinez does appear to be spotted, but he is not seen to be singing along and his presence needs to be verified still. A club source has now told the newspaper that there isn’t evidence of either player being involved.
The club have said that, therefore, it’s a matter for the Argentina FA as no United players were involved.
MEN state that they have asked the club whether they intend to question both their players to understand the situation better, but there was no detail on that.
For now, it seems that United are confident that none of their players were involved and therefore there is nothing to worry about for the club.
United fans will be looking forward to seeing both Garnacho and Martinez return to Manchester over the coming weeks after they conclude their holidays.
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