Lionel Messi red card: Argentina star sent off in Copa America match for altercation with Gary Medel

The Argentine captain saw red

Lionel Messi has been sent off in Argentina's third place play-off match in the Copa America against fellow defeated semi-finalists Chile.

The Argentine captain was given a straight red card following an altercation with Gary Medel.

Messi and the former Cardiff midfielder started a heated argument after the ball had gone out of play that resulted in Medel getting physical with the Argentina star.

The referee, Mario Diaz, decided that both players were guilty of violent conduct and sent both players off in the 36th minute.

Argentina took an early lead when Sergio Aguero opened the scoring 12 minutes into the tie, before Paulo Dybala doubled their lead in Sao Paulo.

Lionel Messi is shown a red card (Getty)

After their previous game, the Argentine Football Association filed an official complaint to South American football’s governing body over “serious and gross refereeing errors” in their semi-final defeat to Brazil.

Things got heated between the two teams (Getty)

Argentina exited the tournament with a 2-0 loss against hosts Brazil this week, and certain incidents in the match led captain Lionel Messi to claim: “The officiating was crazy. [The referee] was on their side.”

Lionel Messi protested the decision (Getty)

The Barcelona forward believed that Ecuadorian referee Roddy Zambrano failed to award “clear penalties” for fouls on Nicolas Otamendi and Sergio Aguero, and the Argentine FA shared Messi’s opinion.

President Claudio Tapia sent a six-page letter to Conmebol, in which he wrote that Zambrano “unjustifiably omitted the use of VAR in at least two specific moves that clearly influenced the final result of the match.”