Copa America 2019: Lionel Messi slams referees and accuses them of favouring Brazil in semi-final clash

What's the story?

Argentina captain Lionel Messi has slammed the refereeing decisions taken during his side's loss to Brazil in the Copa America semi-final clash earlier today, accusing the officials of making decisions that blatantly favoured the hosts.

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Argentina's hopes of lifting the Copa America title came crashing down as they endured a tough 2-0 defeat to rivals Brazil in the semi-finals held at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte.

Goals from Premier League duo Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino secured the victory for the Brazilians, who will face either Chile or Peru in the finals at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

Besides the continued trophy drought faced by Argentina and Messi, a challenge on Sergio Aguero inside the box also emerged as one of the major talking points of the game. The Manchester City striker was seen getting fouled in the penalty area just before Brazil's second goal but officials decided to turn a blind eye to the potentially game-changing incident.

The heart of the matter

Messi, who is yet to lift a major international title with Argentina, has slammed the decisions made by the referees during the game, calling them "bull****".

Speaking to reporters after the game, the Barcelona talisman said (via beinSPORTS), "They were not better than us. They found the net early and the second goal came from a penalty [to Aguero] they didn't award."

"They [the officials] had booked a lot of bulls***, but they didn't even check the VAR, that's incredible. That happened all over the game. At the first glance of contact, they ruled in their [Brazil's] favour and this kind of bulls*** distracted us from the game."

He added, "There is no excuses for us, but we need to review this, analyse it and let's hope CONMEBOL does something about it."