Spain beat Argentina 1-0 to win their second World Cup title on Sunday night.
Ferran Torres’ goal in the second half of extra time was the difference in New Jersey, after 105 minutes of incredible defending from the former champions.
But it was not Torres’ moment that will steal the headlines on Monday morning, but Argentina’s disgraceful scenes of violence at full-time.
After finishing the match with 10-men following Enzo Fernandez’s red card at 0-0, Lionel Messi and Co. dug deep to try and see the result through to penalties.
But their resistance was broken after Pedro Porro’s cross was nodded back into the penalty box by Nico Williams and hit sweetly into the back of the net by Torres to spark wild celebrations on the USA’s East Coast.
The moment forced Argentina into attack mode, and they finally registered their first shot of the game in the 117th minute of the match.
It was a borderline shameful performance from Lionel Scaloni’s side, who never aimed to match the European champions on the day.
After opting to wear their hearts on their sleeves across the entire summer, resulting in several high-tension moments, with players often celebrating in their opponents’ faces, they were served with the same treatment by some Spanish players, and it did not go down well.
Paredes leads assault in disgraceful scenes
Leandro Paredes, introduced off the bench and handed a yellow card early on, was full of his usual aggression and could have been sent off on several occassions.
But he made it to the end of the game, before launching a horrific attack on a Spanish substitute who ran onto the pitch at full-time.
Barcelona’s Gavi made a point of celebrating in the face of the Boca Juniors midfielder at the sound of the whistle, and what followed was simply unacceptable.
Paredes, who had just confronted Aymeric Laporte, grabbed the youngster around the throat before throwing him to the ground and continuing to attack him, throwing punches towards the man now lying on the grass.
He had to be restrained by several of his team-mates before Scaloni himself entered the pitch to break things up.
His fight was not the only one that occurred in the immediate aftermath, with Nicolas Otamendi also involved in a tussle.
It was a release of pure frustration from Argentina’s perspective, but it remains a set of actions that must be punished by FIFA.
There is no place for violence in football, and the South American nation have already been slammed by the media for their horrific sore-loser mentality, which will undoubtedly lead the headlines for the next few weeks.
It was not the ending Messi would have wanted if that were to be his final appearance for his country, but he can still hold his head high, despite registering just 54 touches across the entire match.