‘They killed our children’: Messi’s Argentina deny violent history ahead of England match, contrast Maradona’s reception | Today’s news

Ahead of the England match, Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni refused to dwell on history. Instead, the team’s only priority is to reach another World Cup final.

Lionel Scaloni called reaching the semi-finals truly historic for Argentine football. He described reaching this stage as a privileged, hard-won position.

However, he admitted that the team could have performed better against Switzerland. At the same time, Scaloni refused to add more hype before facing England. He simply called it a football match against a tough opponent.

“The message is this is a football game. That’s what I can say. We’re going to play against a very tough opponent, they have an excellent coach, it’s football and that’s all,” he said.

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“It is a privileged space in football, it is not an easy feat. Now we are happy and excited and we will try to finish it with every last drop of sweat,” he added.

However, given the extensive political history between the two nations, it may be difficult for fans to completely ignore the past. Argentina forward Jose Lopez said his side would leave their “life on the pitch” against England.

This exciting World Cup semi-final marks a historic encounter. It is the first meeting between these sides since 2005. It is also the first time Lionel Messi has faced England.

Lopez acknowledges that this bout has significant history and emotional weight. According to him, the match involves considerable pain and a complicated history.

“Obviously, inside and outside the four lines of the pitch, it’s a game that has a lot of history, a lot of pain and a lot of things behind it. I think we’re professionals and we’re going to play it like we play every game: until the last second and we’re going to leave our lives on the pitch,” he said.

What did Maradona say?

Argentina and England were involved in the Falklands War in 1982. They fought over disputed territories in the South Atlantic. It began when Argentina’s military junta invaded the islands in April.

Margaret Thatcher, then British Prime Minister, then sent a naval task force to retrieve them. Argentina surrendered on 14 June, fully restoring British control.

The war lasted exactly 74 days and caused significant losses overall. Officially, it killed 649 Argentine personnel, 255 British soldiers and three civilians.

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Because the war had ended just four years earlier, the quarter-final in 1986 became deeply symbolic. Before the match, Diego Maradona reportedly emphasized its political significance.

Diego Maradona’s words before the match are said to have pumped up the Argentine squad. He apparently said they were defending the Argentine flag and its children. Maradona scored both the “Hand of God” and the “Goal of the Century” in this match.

A popular version on social media quotes Maradona as saying: “Come on, comrades… these are the ones who killed our children and women.” However, the wording remains unverified.

The most authentic version of exactly what Maradona said before the game comes from the memory of teammate Jose Luis Brown. Brown recalled Maradona screaming after the Argentine national anthem finished.

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According to Brown, Maradona was referring to enemies who killed their friends and neighbors. That came in the dressing room before their famous quarter-final.

“Let’s go, eh! Let’s go, because these bastards killed our children, our friends and neighbors!” Maradona said, according to Brown.

Maradona did not record the exact words before the match in his autobiography. However, he confirmed the basic thinking that was driving at the time. He wrote that Argentine boys were killed like birds.

He explicitly framed the match as revenge for their deaths. He described it as symbolic payback for the Falklands War specifically. He told his teammates that they were directly honoring fallen Argentine soldiers.