THE UK Government has responded after Argentina players celebrated their World Cup semi-final victory over England by waving a banner about the Falkland Islands on the pitch.
Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni had said before the game he did not want the fixture to become about the conflict over the British overseas territory.
But after his side came from 1-0 down with five minutes left to win 2-1 to reach a second successive World Cup final, players held up a banner that read "Las Malvinas son Argentinas", which translates to "The Falkland Islands are Argentinian".
Political tensions linger between Argentina and Great Britain over the Falkland Islands, which boiled over into conflict in 1982.
Argentina has repeatedly claimed sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, which are about 8000 miles from Britain and 300 miles from mainland Argentina.
Argentina vice-president Victoria Villarruel had described England as “invaders” and “usurping pirates” in the build-up to the fixture, and tweeted a victory message at full-time by saying, “it wasn’t just another match” alongside a video of what appeared to be Argentinian soldiers.
Argentina could now face the prospect of disciplinary action from governing body Fifa for violating rules banning political messaging on the pitch.
Now, a senior UK Government minister has said it was "entirely inappropriate" for Argentinian players to hold the banner.
Business Secretary Peter 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.”
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