Argentina captain Nicolas Otamendi was left furious after a brawl to the death following their 1-0 Olympic quarter-final defeat by France in Bordeaux on Friday.
Argentina were booed throughout the match by a hostile home crowd and fights broke out between players immediately after the final whistle.
There was pushing and shoving for a couple of minutes before the players were dispersed. Some French players appeared to run down the tunnel moments later, before coming back out shortly after to take a lap of honour.
After the altercation, Otamendi attacked French defender Loïc Badé, whom he thought had celebrated too much in front of the Argentine players' families.
“It makes me very angry that they went to where the relatives were to celebrate in their faces,” said Otamendi.
“[If] he [Badé] “We want to celebrate, let him come to where we are and we will solve it there. We will talk about what we need to talk about.”
Although primarily an under-23 competition, the match was a rematch that French fans had been waiting for since Argentina's dramatic penalty shoot-out victory in the 2022 World Cup final.
A racism scandal had heightened tensions ahead of the match after a video circulated of Argentina players singing an offensive song about French players of African descent while celebrating their Copa America victory last month.
French coach Thierry Henry was also unhappy with the brawl and was furious after midfielder Enzo Millet was sent off.
“I went to shake hands with the opposing coach and suddenly I saw a lot of things happening,” Henry told reporters.
“I don't like to see this kind of thing. It wasn't necessary.
“We didn't want to lose any players” [to suspension] But it didn't make sense, I wasn't even playing. [at the final whistle].
“I'm not happy at all about that. We were all united, the only problem was that they showed us the red card on the bench.”
Jean-Philippe Mateta scored in the fifth minute for Henry's side, who will face Egypt in the semi-finals.
