Gernot Rohr has criticised Argentina’s treatment of Benin after his side’s 3-0 defeat in the friendly that marked Lionel Messi’s final appearance.
Argentina’s victory took place in front of a large crowd as supporters celebrated the appearance of their national team’s celebrated captain. Benin’s players had hoped to exchange shirts with their opponents and share a memorable moment with the Argentina squad, but Rohr says their efforts were unsuccessful.
“Yes, it was extremely difficult,” Rohr said on the RMC radio programme Rothen s’enflamme.
“We tried. The only drawback was that the Argentinians did not give us anything. There was no picture with Messi and no shirt. They did not even allow us into the tunnel, let alone the dressing room.”
Rohr said security staff prevented the Benin delegation from entering areas where they might have met the Argentina players.
“Security refused to let everyone in,” he added. “Some players came to exchange shirts, so we knew it would be difficult. We tried everything, but we got nothing.”
The Benin manager also revealed that his team had prepared a gift for the hosts in an attempt to mark the occasion. The delegation presented a bouquet in Benin’s national colours – yellow, red and green – but that gesture did not lead to any access to the Argentina players.
“We offered a bouquet of flowers in the colours of Benin – yellow, red and green – but that did not work,” said the German coach.
Rohr did manage to obtain a signed shirt connected with Argentina’s head coach, Lionel Scaloni, although it was not the direct exchange he had hoped for with Messi.
“However, I gave a 2018 Messi shirt to coach Scaloni,” he said. “He signed it for me and then returned it, but that was all.”
