The friendly match between the national teams of Argentina and Benin, which ended in a 3:0 victory over the Gospodars, will go down in history as Lionel Messi's farewell match for the national team. However, the Christmastide atmosphere in the stands contrasted with that of the visiting team after the final whistle.
The head coach of the Benin team, Gernot Rohr, on the Rothen s'enflamme program on RMC radio, harshly criticized the behavior of the Argentine side. Following the words of the leader, African football players tried to share this special moment and made special preparations before exchanging equipment, but were faced with a categorical demise.
The security service blocked the Benin residents' access not only to the shower room, but also to the tunnel under the tribune. The symbolic gesture of presenting the rulers with a bouquet from the yellow-red-green colors of the ensign of Benin did not help.
" One stop - the Argentines didn’t give us anything. Any photos from the Mass, any custom T-shirts. The security killed absolutely everyone. The citizens came with their T-shirts, tried to get home, tried everything, but ended up with nothing,” Rohr shared his disappointment.
The only representative of Benin, who was able to take away a memorable souvenir from this evening, became the head coach himself. Having recently been presented with Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni, Rohr was able to get an autograph on the Messi football player for the 2018 World Cup, which he saved after the match with Nigeria. Skaloni especially put the T-shirt on display and turned it over with the signature of the legendary Argentinean.