As Spain celebrated their World Cup victory, Lamine Yamal rubbed salt into the wound by directly mocking Leandro Paredes. Ferran Torres was instrumental in scoring the winning goal in Sunday’s final, firing a shot into the roof of the net in stoppage time to earn Spain two stars. Although they dominated the game and thoroughly deserved the win, it was somewhat overshadowed by what happened after the final whistle.
As the entire Spanish bench sprinted onto the pitch to celebrate the historic feat, several players were physically attacked by Paredes. He was caught on camera shoving Eric Garcia in the throat, throwing Gabi to the ground and violently flailing. It was reported at the time that he was shown a red card, but it was later removed from the record and FIFA took no disciplinary action.
The governing body has since authorized an investigation into the disturbing scenes, meaning Argentina could be punished retrospectively.
Meanwhile, Spain marked their victory with an open-top bus parade on Monday as thousands of fans lined up on the streets of Madrid to celebrate.
During the festivities, Yamal mocked Paredes by holding up a fan-made banner that read “Verada del Ano VII: Paredes vs. Gavi.” Verada del Ano, like Misfits, is a Spanish celebrity boxing event.
Without mentioning that he was feeling unwell after the match, he wrote, “Thank you, Argentina! I love you today and always. I am writing this letter with a heavy heart because today I was not able to bring rich joy to this country.”
“But we are filled with pride to have given everything we have and to once again raise our flag at the top! Thank you to everyone who was a part of this national team.”
“To the players who gave their all to represent this shirt and fought for it until the last moment of each game! It was an honor to be part of the greatest Argentina national team of all time.”
