Argentina's president Javier Milei has claimed people are "jealous" of his country because it excels at almost everything, despite the controversial behaviour that followed the Argentine national team's loss to Spain in the World Cup final.
The president landed himself in an embarrassing spot last Monday. He mistakenly published a pre-scheduled tweet celebrating Argentina's victory and announcing a national holiday, something the Argentine people will not now receive.
The Daily Mail published his remarks to the LN+ network: "Argentina's problem is that we stand out, we cannot be ignored, and people are jealous of us, and we excel at almost everything. I'm sorry, but someone had to say it."
Milei pulled no punches after Argentina's 1-0 loss to Spain, insisting the refereeing decisions went against his country's team. That was despite the Argentine side managing only two shots throughout the match.
His view contradicts the prevailing impression throughout the tournament, which held that Argentina had benefited from many refereeing decisions.
"The match was very difficult for us on Sunday, and yet Argentina could have grabbed an equaliser in the final minutes, even though the run of play was not in their favour at all," Milei added.
He continued: "Argentina always adopted balanced positions and behaved in a disciplined manner throughout the tournament, even in the moments when the referees took wrong positions against the team in some matches, as the team's reaction was always balanced and organised, and marked by fighting until the end."