Brazil-Argentina games are always fought tooth and nail, with the winner enjoying the fruits of victory and regional bragging rights until the teams meet again. For the loser, though, the bitter taste of defeat lingers on and the chance to make amends cannot come quickly enough. In the run up to Tuesday's semi-final at Beijing 2008, the latter was very much the case for the Albiceleste, still smarting from their 3-0 reverse at the hands of the Seleção in the final of the 2007 Copa America in Venezuela. However, by the end of the night in the Chinese capital, the shoe was firmly on the other foot...
Speaking to FIFA.com after the game, Argentina's captain and scorer of their third goal on the night, Juan Roman Riquelme, explained just how much the victory meant: "We're delighted; we can't deny that. We've achieved our first goal, which was to make the final, and on top of that we've exacted some personal revenge. Players like Javier (Mascherano), Lionel (Messi) and Fernando (Gago) and I had the misfortune to be on the losing side at the last Copa America final. Today we won and made amends for that."
No one in Argentina would deny that on the night in question, 15 July 2007, the Albiceleste suffered one of the most painful reverses in their recent history. Among the four members of the Olympic team to lose that final was Javier Mascherano, who also stopped to chat after Tuesday's memorable win. "Argentina-Brazil is always like that - a case of win or bust. Today it was our turn to celebrate and we're enjoying it to the full. Beating our age-old rival and denying them the gold medal they came for is very significant, but we mustn't confuse that with our own goal. Now, we need to focus on ourselves and go and achieve our own bit of glory," he said.
Curiously, the central midfielder was on receiving end of the tackles that earned both Lucas and Thiago Neves red cards late on in the semi-final. Asked what he made of those incidents, he says with a smile: "At 2-0 down, Brazil got a bit nervy that's all. It's not like I was the most skilful player out there on the pitch or anything."
‘We're thrilled for El Kun'
Speaking to FIFA.com after the game, Argentina's captain and scorer of their third goal on the night, Juan Roman Riquelme, explained just how much the victory meant: "We're delighted; we can't deny that. We've achieved our first goal, which was to make the final, and on top of that we've exacted some personal revenge. Players like Javier (Mascherano), Lionel (Messi) and Fernando (Gago) and I had the misfortune to be on the losing side at the last Copa America final. Today we won and made amends for that."
No one in Argentina would deny that on the night in question, 15 July 2007, the Albiceleste suffered one of the most painful reverses in their recent history. Among the four members of the Olympic team to lose that final was Javier Mascherano, who also stopped to chat after Tuesday's memorable win. "Argentina-Brazil is always like that - a case of win or bust. Today it was our turn to celebrate and we're enjoying it to the full. Beating our age-old rival and denying them the gold medal they came for is very significant, but we mustn't confuse that with our own goal. Now, we need to focus on ourselves and go and achieve our own bit of glory," he said.
Curiously, the central midfielder was on receiving end of the tackles that earned both Lucas and Thiago Neves red cards late on in the semi-final. Asked what he made of those incidents, he says with a smile: "At 2-0 down, Brazil got a bit nervy that's all. It's not like I was the most skilful player out there on the pitch or anything."
‘We're thrilled for El Kun'
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