Leandro Paredes’ sister, Barbara, drew attention with an unusual comment about Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands just hours after the national side suffered defeat to Spain in Sunday night’s World Cup final.
The long-running dispute over the British Overseas Territory had already become a recurring theme during Argentina’s World Cup run, with players heard singing anti-English chants during the tournament and later posing with a banner backing Argentina’s claim to the islands after their semi-final victory over England.
But Barbara Paredes took the rhetoric further after arriving back in Buenos Aires following the final loss, suggesting the disappointment was softened by her belief that the islands belonged to Argentina.
“We’re all delighted, but to be honest we didn’t expect to get this far, and having made it this far and come out on top against England – for us, that meant the world,” Barbara told reporters.
“We may not have the third or fourth star, but we’ve got the Falklands all to ourselves.”
Argentina has repeatedly pressed its claim over the Falklands, which have been a British territory since 1833. In 1982, Argentina launched an invasion of the islands, triggering the 10-week Falklands War.
Leandro Paredes’ sister Barbara made fresh controversial remarks about the Falklands after Argentina’s World Cup final defeat
Paredes was prominently involved in the clashes that erupted after the defeat in New York
Falkland Islanders most recently overwhelmingly pledged to remain British in 2013, with 99.8 per cent voting to stay British in an island-wide referendum.
But Argentina fans, players, and Argentine politicians whipped up what they believe is their own claim to the islands they refer to as Las Malvinas, with foreign minister Pablo Quirno suggesting that the referendum was illegitimate days before meeting England in last week’s semi-final.
Quirno used an essay in La Nacion newspaper to claim the population had been ‘artificially implanted by the occupying power’, which was flatly rejected by Downing Street.
Meanwhile, Argentina lodged a diplomatic protest with the UK over what it called the ‘unlawful’ movement of a Royal Navy patrol ship near the South Atlantic archipelago.
In an official statement shared on X after the semi-final, the country’s foreign affairs ministry expressed its ‘strongest rejection’ of the movements of HMS Medway and accused Britain of a ‘military incursion’ into its waters.
No 10 said the UK had notified Argentina in advance of undertaking a routine logistics visit and the British Navy ‘always operates in full compliance with international law’.
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni had said before the game he did not want the fixture to become about the conflict over the territory.
But the country’s vice-president Victoria Villarruel tweeted a victory message at full-time saying ‘it wasn’t just another match’, alongside a video of what appeared to be Argentinian soldiers.
In the build-up to the fixture, she had described England as ‘invaders’ and ‘usurping pirates’.
Premier League players Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martinez were among those who waved the banner after the final whistle on Wednesday, with more players in the team such as Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez set to return to England to resume their club careers after the summer break.
Despite urgent calls to FIFA to sanction players who breached the tournament’s rules around the displaying of political banners, FIFA has not yet issued a sanction.
Argentina players were previously fined a paltry £20,000 in 2014 after displaying a similar banner, but European institution UEFA has since taken a harsher line, issuing one-match bans for Spain players Rodri and Alvaro Morata for leading chants of ‘Gibraltar is Spanish’ after winning Euro 2024.
The Boca Juniors star dragged Gavi to the floor after throttling Eric Garcia at full-time
Argentina are already under investigation after displaying a banner which supports their claim to the Falklands
Donald Trump’s White House opted to back Argentina ahead of the final for using the banner, with the head of the FIFA task force Andrew Giuliani saying that it was allowed due to the country’s First Amendment rights.
Argentinian president Javier Milei later waded into the row, declaring that his government was getting ‘closer every day’ to recovering sovereignty over the islands.
He wrote on X: ‘While some are busy throwing tantrums befitting a terminally mononeuronal teenager, we, through the diplomatic route, are getting closer every day to the recovery of the Malvinas Islands, Georgias del Sur and the South Sandwich Islands, and the surrounding maritime space.’
But while Argentina may have felt free to display the banner again – after taking it to their team hotel last Wednesday – if they had won the final, the team did not get the opportunity to do so after losing to Spain 1-0 in extra time.
With the final whistle, and the loss of their World Cup title, Paredes was one of Argentina’s players to mentally collapse, with the Boca Juniors midfielder disgracing himself with violent conduct.
Paredes throttled Eric Garcia in upsetting scenes before wrestling Barcelona star Gavi to the ground.
Nahuel Molina and Thiago Almada were also involved in scraps, while Nicolas Otamendi tried to draw Player of the Tournament Rodri into an argument by accusing him of ‘complaining to referees’ in the build-up to Sunday’s game.
With Paredes failing to be sent off after the final whistle, FIFA has since opened a second investigation into Argentina’s conduct, appointing a disciplinary and ethics prosecutor to assess the incident.
