Crowd trouble creates confusion at Argentina-Morocco clash

Crowd trouble in the opening match of the Olympic football tournament between Argentina and Morocco on Wednesday caused chaos, with Argentina eventually beaten 2-1 following a VAR review after play was suspended with the score tied at 2-2.

Argentina's Cristian Medina scored deep in injury time to salvage what looked like a 2-2 draw, but the decision ruling out the goal was delivered about two hours after play was suspended when the teams re-emerged on to the pitch to finish the match in an empty stadium.

The teams played for three minutes and 15 seconds after VAR completed its review and disallowed the goal.

After order was restored in Saint-Etienne and the teams had left the field following the fan invasion, they discovered that the match had not been completed but suspended by officials.

The teams re-emerged just before 7:00 pm local time and warmed up a second time so the final minutes could be played.

Argentina - the gold medal winners in 2004 and 2008 - failed to display their best play despite lining up recent Copa America winners Julian Alvarez, Nicolas Otamendi and Geronimo Rulli.

Soufiane Rahimi put Morocco ahead as Achraf Hakimi set him up from the right after a superb passing move in the final seconds of the first half.

Rahimi doubled the advantage and netted his second from the penalty spot in the 49th minute before Giuliano Simeone pulled one back for Javier Mascherano's side in the 68th.

Medina then found the net 16 minutes into stoppage time before fans stormed the pitch and objects were thrown at players as chaos erupted in the French eastern city.

Meanwhile, Spain, who struggled to find their pace in the opening stages of the game, took the lead in the 29th minute against Uzbekistan with a close-range finish from Marc Pubill off Abel Ruiz's flicked ball.

Uzbekistan, cheered by an ecstatic crowd, equalised just before halftime thanks to Eldor Shomurodov's penalty following a VAR review for a Pau Cubarsi foul.

Spain wasted a golden chance to restore the lead after the break when Sergio Gomez's penalty effort was saved by Abduvohid Nematov, but the Real Sociedad player redeemed himself and found the net in the 62nd minute to earn Spain their first three points in Group C.