The controversial sign was held up by Lisandro Martinez and Giovanni Lo Celso after Argentina beat England 2-1 in a tense World Cup semi final encounter
The UK government has criticised some of the Argentinian football team after some players were seen waving a banner that read: “The Falkland Islands are Argentinian.”
Senior minister Peter Kyle said it was “entirely inappropriate” for Argentinian players to wave a banner in support of their country’s claims to the Falkland Islands after their World Cup semi-final win against England.
Argentina celebrated dumping England out of the World Cup in a provocative way. Manchester United’s Lisandro Martínez was seen holding the banner, as well as former Spurs player Giovanni Lo Celso. The banner was echoing the words of Argentinian President Javier Milei, who wrote in a post earlier this year that the islands “were, are and will always be Argentine.”
The banner made its way to the players, who held it up as they revelled in their win. They could face the prospect of disciplinary action from governing body Fifa for violating rules banning political messaging on the pitch.
Asked about the Argentinian players’ move, Business Secretary Mr Kyle told the BBC: “My reaction is that it was entirely inappropriate. Politics needs to be separate from football. In fact, the World Cup has one of its central tenets that politics is separate from football.
“That is now a matter for Fifa. I expect Fifa to do its investigation thoroughly.” He continued: “We expect Fifa to undertake an investigation into this. I think it was certain to happen because it was such an egregious violation of the the rules of not having political activity as part of the football.”
The match had already been a tense affair, with commentators slamming some cynical Argentine tackling in the first half.
Although Anthony Gordon initially slotted one past Emiliano Martinez to make it 1-0 to England, a brace of Argentinian goals made it 2-1 to Lionel Scaloni’s team.
And then the triumphant sign-waving began.