Argentine politician brands England 'usurping pirates' in staggering Falklands rant

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The vice president of Argentina launched a blistering attack on England on the eve of the two nations' seismic World Cup semi-final showdown, using the term 'usurping pirates' in a social media post referencing the history around the Falklands War.

The history between the two countries and the Falklands War has been referenced heavily in the build-up to tonight's match in Georgia, with Victoria Villaruel, the country's VP, the daughter of a Falklands veteran.

But her attack on social media has raised eyebrows, particularly following comments from Lionel Scaloni, Argentina's manager, that it would be '

quite wrong' to make the game about the war.

Villaruel wrote on her X account: “Tomorrow we play against the usurping pirates. This isn't just another match. I'm not going to be politically correct or cold-hearted; against the English, it's always something more. It's the Malvinas, it's Diego, it's Leo's [Messi] last one, go

Argentina

! Because until our last breath, we're going to claim what's ours!”

Over 900 people died during the war back in 1982 and Argentina fans have sung about the Falklands at the tournament.

But Scaloni has tried to ease the tension by insisting it would be disrespectful to mix the conflict with the match. He said: “It’s a football match; I can’t mix things up, out of respect for what happened so many years ago.

“It was a very sad time in our history, and there isn’t much we can do about it. Mixing the two would be madness. We criticise that there was war.

“Of course people remember history and what happened. It is a game of football, we need to keep things separate.

“Yes, we remember Argentinian people and people that were lost in the war, but let’s not conflate things.

“What do the players of today have to do with many, many years ago?

“It was a sad time, we remember this, of course, but it would be quite wrong to put this into the game.”

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