A fan invasion at the opening match of the Olympic football tournament between Argentina and Morocco on Wednesday caused chaos, with Argentina eventually defeated 2-1 following a VAR review after the game was suspended with the score tied 2-2.
Argentina's Cristian Medina scored in added time to salvage what looked like a 2-2 draw, but the decision to disallow the goal came about two hours after play was suspended as the teams returned to the field to finish the match in an empty stadium.
There were images of some Argentine players wincing as what appeared to be a flare was thrown at them. At the end of the match, bottles and glasses were strewn across the pitch.
The Olympics website also showed the match as “interrupted.”
About an hour after the incident, stadium organizers reported that the match had not officially ended. Players stayed in the stadium to resume play. Video boards informed fans that the match was suspended and that they had to leave the stadium.
The box score on the Olympics media website said video of Medina's goal would be reviewed for possible offsides.
Morocco was leading 2-0 before Argentina came back.
Giuliano Simeone scored in the 68th minute and Medina tied the match in added time.
Argentina was booed by spectators after the controversial video of Enzo Fernandez, described by the French Football Federation as “racist and discriminatory”.
The 2004 and 2008 gold medal winners failed to show their best game despite fielding recent Copa América winners Julián Álvarez, Nicolás Otamendi and Gerónimo Rulli.
Soufiane Rahimi put Morocco ahead from Achraf Hakimi's pass from the right after a superb passing move in the final seconds of the first half.
Rahimi doubled the lead and scored his second from the penalty spot in the 49th minute before Simeone pulled one back for Javier Mascherano's side in the 68th.
Medina then found the net 16 minutes into added time before fans stormed the pitch and threw objects at players as chaos erupted in the eastern French city.
Meanwhile, Spain, who had struggled to find their rhythm in the early stages of the match, took the lead in the 29th minute against Uzbekistan with Marc Pubill's close-range finish from a pass from Abel Ruiz.
Uzbekistan, cheered on by a jubilant crowd, equalised shortly before the break thanks to a penalty converted by Eldor Shomurodov following a VAR review for a foul by Pau Cubarsi.
Spain wasted a golden opportunity to restore the lead after the break when Sergio Gomez's penalty was saved by Abduvohid Nematov, but the Real Sociedad player redeemed himself and found the net in the 62nd minute to give Spain their first three points in Group C.
Meanwhile, Ben Waine scored the go-ahead goal as New Zealand won their opening Group A match 2-1 against Guinea in Nice.
New Zealand were awarded a penalty in the 24th minute, but Guinean goalkeeper Soumaila Sylla dived to clear captain Matthew Garbett's shot. New Zealand quickly recovered and Garbett scored a minute later to make it 1-0.
Aliou Balde looked to equalise for Guinea in the 62nd minute, but the referee ruled offside. The team eventually equalised with Amadou Diawara's equaliser in the 72nd minute.
New Zealand responded a minute later with Waine's goal from the front.
This is New Zealand's fourth time competing at the Olympics. The OlyWhites, as they are known, advanced to the quarter-finals at the Tokyo Games, where they lost to hosts Japan on penalties.
Guinea was making its Olympic debut.
In Group C in Nantes, Egypt and the Dominican Republic drew 0-0.
Peter Gonzalez's apparent goal for the Dominican Republic early in the match was ruled out due to a foul in the build-up.
Egypt has participated in the Olympics 13 times, the most among African countries, but has never finished higher than fourth. The team reached the quarter-finals at the Tokyo Games.
Mohamed Salah was expected to join Egypt as a senior player for the Olympics but declined to focus on Liverpool's pre-season. The team is captained by former Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny.
The Dominican Republic was making its Olympic debut.
Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this report.
