The Argentina vs. Brazil World Cup qualifier may have been marred by a brawl between fans of both countries, but it also featured Lionel Messi in his most savage as he answered Rodrygo's allegations of the World Cup champions being cowards.

As the brawl between fans was happening, the Argentinian National Team went inside their locker rooms to escape. However, Brazil player Rodrygo called them out, particularly singling out Lionel Messi and Rodrigo de Paul as "cowards."

However, Messi answered these allegations of cowardice by saying, "We went to the locker room because it was the best way to calm everything down, a tragedy could have happened," and added, "We are a family. We decided to play to make the situation more calm."

This could have gotten much worse for the Argentinians in hindsight as their goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez, tried to join the fracas as he also leaped up towards the stands to slap a baton out of an officer's hands. He was later restrained by his teammates before they went inside the locker rooms.

Before the team went inside the locker rooms to calm down, Lionel Messi and Rodrygo were seen arguing, with Messi being heard telling him, "We are the world champions, why are we cowards? Look at your mouth."

Their teammates tried to calm things down, though, as cooler heads prevailed and both sides calmed down as the Argentinians went to the locker rooms as police were hitting their fans.

After the game, Messi then slammed the Brazilian police, saying in a press conference, "We saw how [police] were hitting the people, it already happened in the Libertadores final." This was a reference to the Copa Libertadores final where Brazilian team Fluminense defeated Argentinian team Boca Juniors to become the best team in South America. However, the police also became involved as tensions were high for both sides.

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Footage of Police Beating Up Argentina Fans With Batons During Argentina vs. Brazil Match Surface

Tensions were high in Brazil as the World Cup champions faced the home team in a rivalry that has lasted decades. This is shown in newly-surfaced videos of Brazilian police beating up Argentina fans at the world-famous Macarana.

According to The Express, fighting broke out during the national anthems and this caused Brazilian police to charge the Argentinian fans as the World Champions were forced to watch helplessly.

One clip showed a man lying on a stretcher with blood pouring from his head. Another showed the Argentinian fans trying to fight back by throwing things at the police. Another clip showed people trying to escape the brawl by going into the pitch while another one showed a fan crying in the stands.

Argentina Vs. Brazil Match Overshadowed by the Brawl

Argentina won this match, 1-0. As Latin Post previously reported, this was also Brazil's first World Cup qualifier loss at home. However, despite its historic significance and World Cup ramifications, the brawl ultimately overshadowed it all, according to the Daily Mail.

Reports indicated that the Argentinians initially refused to take the field before kickoff. However, CONMEBOL, gave them 15 minutes to return to the field. However, it was reported that the Argentina side told their opponents that they would only come out if everything was calm again. After 22 minutes, the Argentinians finally came out, warmed up, and the match finally started.

 It ended when Nicolas Otamendi struck a dagger of a goal against Brazil but even this was overshadowed by the fighting that happened before the match.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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