Argentine players punched, kicked and grabbed their Spanish counterparts by the throat as the World Cup final turned ugly after the final whistle, according to British daily conservative newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
In a further lack of sportsmanship, the South Americans then turned their backs on their opponents during the trophy lift at the MetLife Stadium.
The match itself had already been dogged by dark arts from Argentine players, who were reduced to 10 men in the third minute of injury time when Enzo Fernández was shown a second yellow card. But after the final whistle went on a 1-0 extra-time victory for Spain, Argentina reacted furiously.
Leandro Paredes was shown a straight red card for prompting a brawl. It was the second time Argentina had received two World Cup final red cards, having had two dismissals in their 1-0 defeat by West Germany in 1990.
Nahuel Molina, a substitute, had also been a key instigator of the fighting, having thrown a punch into the body of Rodri, the Spain captain, as the Spanish players ran on to the pitch to celebrate their victory.
Molina also squared up to Rodri, who chose to walk away rather than engage in a scrap. Paredes also kicked out at Eric García, before thrusting his hand into the Spaniard's throat. Paredes also threw Gavi, the Spain midfielder, to the floor as chaos ensued.
Lionel Scaloni, the Argentine coach, tried to separate the players by dragging García, the Spain defender, away from the fracas. "We are gracious in victory, and we must be so in defeat," Scaloni said after the game.
The behaviour of the Argentina players received widespread condemnation, as well as the way they approached the final.
Alan Shearer, the former England captain, described the incident as "terrible". He said during BBC coverage, "Paredes threw two or three haymakers into someone's face. He went for them. There is no place for that.
"We know how much it means to them and we know how much it hurts to lose, but there is a way to lose. Too many times we have seen that from Argentina. The reaction after the final whistle is terrible."
BBC pundit Joe Hart said, "There was one man on the pitch who did have class and that was Lionel Messi, who shook hands with every one of those Spanish players. The game's done. They could have absolutely no complaints about what happened today. Disgusting behaviour."
Fellow pundit Wayne Rooney said of Argentina's behavior, "Does it surprise you? It doesn't surprise me. We've seen this with Argentina before. It's just not the reaction you want. We've seen some of the reaction after knocking England out in the last round.
"That's just sad. If you lose a game of football, be graceful and get out of there. It's really poor from them. That's a reaction to them being outplayed, out-fought, out-thought on the football pitch, and then they resort to that at the end. It's poor from those two players."
Gary Neville, speaking on ITV, singled out Paredes' behaviour for criticism. "They're very competitive and I love that element of them, but [Paredes] has just been a disgrace for the last couple of games, and why the referees have allowed him to continue doing what he is doing..."
Micah Richards added: "It's quite embarrassing really.’
In the game, they were just on the cusp every single time. Paredes doesn't need to do that, he's better than that, and it doesn't stop there - it keeps going and going and going.
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