Mascherano’s fury after the national team’s draw against Venezuela: “With or without VAR, Argentina always loses”

Javier Mascherano didn’t make a gesture. He didn’t raise his tone either. However, the coach of the Argentine national team at the Under ’23 Olympic Qualifiers hid his anger at the controversial penalty that led to a 2-2 draw against locals Venezuela and stated that “with or without VAR, the victim is always the itself.” equipment”.

The Argentine national team faced the Venezuelan national team in the first match of the quadrangular which will define who will qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. And things had started well. The fact is that, after starting to lose due to a goal of great responsibility by goalkeeper Brey, the national team reversed the result (Vivas equalised, against, and Thiago Almada scored the second) and took the three golden points for lead the group. with Paraguay beating Brazil.

But, when five minutes of added time were being played, the Ecuadorian referee Bautista awarded a penalty to Luján (with VAR intervention) for a challenge in the area and Kelsy

For Mascherano the situation was eloquent: “Look at the images of what happened in all the matches. Everyone can think what they want. But the reality is one, we’ve been through everything: goals disallowed and penalties not taken.” he said, he complained.

“There were four games that hurt us,” continued the former central midfielder for River, Liverpool, Barcelona and the national team.

In a match corresponding to the first round of the final quadrangular of the competition which will award two places for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Venezuelan team achieved a heartbreaking draw against Argentina, with a controversial penalty sanctioned by the Ecuadorian referee Augusto Aragón.

“Here we make excuses or we move on. We must focus on what we can control, which is to be superior to our rivals as happened today,” the coach said.

In closing, Mascherano referred to the difficulties that will arise, after the dismissals of Valentín Barco and Gonzalo Luján and some persistent injuries, in forming the team for Thursday’s match against Paraguay.

Argentina will face Paraguay on Wednesday at 5pm with the absences of Barco and Luján: “We will try to field the best eleven possible”, concluded the coach.