The Argentinian Vice President has branded England “usurping pirates” and “invaders” in a bitter attack ahead of tonight’s crunch World Cup semi-final.
Victoria Villarruel, who serves as deputy to Javier Milei, took to social media in the early hours of Wednesday morning in a bizarre attempt to issue a rallying cry to the Argentinian national team.
She wrote: “Tomorrow we play against the usurping pirates. This isn’t just another match.
“I’m not going to be politically correct or cold-hearted; against the English, it’s always something more.
“It’s the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) it’s Diego, it’s Leo’s last one, and it’s putting the brakes on the invaders.
“Go Argentina! Because until our last breath, we’re going to claim what’s ours!”
Ms Villarruel’s father was part the invading Argentinian force that humiliatingly surrendered after just 74 days in Falklands War in 1982.
Her latest intervention comes just months after she branded Falkland Islanders – the archipelago’s native population – as “English people who live in Argentine territory” and said they “are not part of the discussion” on the territory’s future.
“If they feel English, they should go back to the thousands of miles away where their country is,” she added.
The Argentinian Vice President’s anti-English outburst comes despite manager Lionel Scaloni’s plea to stick to football ahead of tonight’s game.
He told reporters: “It’s a football match – I can’t mix things up, out of respect for what happened so many years ago.
“It was a very sad time in our history, and there isn’t much we can do about it. Mixing the two would be madness. We criticise that there was war.
“Of course people remember history and what happened. It is a game of football, we need to keep things separate.”
More to follow…
