Paris Olympics: Messi and Mascherano rage as VAR cancels Argentina’ goal after an hour turning their draw against Morocco into defeat

Football superstar Lionel Messi and Argentina U-23 coach Javier Mascherano called out the VAR shambles on day one of the Olympics after Argentina were forced to resume their match against Morocco an hour after a late equaliser.

The incredible scenes occurred in Wednesday’s opening match, with Argentina trailing Morocco 2-1 at 90 minutes.

But 15 minutes of injury time was added on.

And Argentina eventually managed to fire in an equalizer — 30 seconds after the whistle should have blown.

Their celebrations were cut short by a pitch invasion as fans also threw firecrackers from the stands

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And the ref blew his whistle as players from both sides ran off the field.

The teams believed the game was over thanks to the ref’s beep.

However, it turned out he had merely suspended play due to the fan trouble.

And over one hour later, it then emerged that VAR had ruled out Argentina’s equaliser for offside.

It meant they and Morocco were forced to resume their match in an empty stadium, playing for just three minutes.

The game ended with Argentina on the wrong side of a 2-1 defeat.

And the VAR shambles was not a good advert for the opening day of the Olympic Games in Paris.

One unhappy man was Argentina legend Messi, who led his nation to Copa America glory earlier this month.

After watching the bizarre scenes, he took to Instagram to post a one-worded message.

Messi’s Instagram Story merely said “Insolito”, which means ‘strange’ in English.

Argentina head coach Mascherano could not hide his fury after witnessing his side lose their highly controversial Olympic football opener to Morocco on Wednesday.

'I don't have an explanation for the players.' he continued in his post-match interview.  'They were reviewing a play for an hour and twenty minutes. Let me continue the game, don't stop me from continuing three minutes after an hour and a half.

'The game was suspended for security reasons. When we had no news, we started to notice things. We don't like this kind of thing to happen either. We don't want to be favored or made fun of. Now we have to turn the page and look for the two victories that we will need to qualify.

'What happened on the field was a scandal. We have to focus on our own. It is confusing but now we have to look forward, this is over, it is over. We have to focus on the two games. Keep the anger and use it in the next games.'