With Luis Diaz giving Colombia the lead in Buenos Aires, things only got worse for Argentina in the second half. 70 minutes into the game, Enzo Fernandez left the hosts down to 10 men as he saw the red card for a high boot on Kevin Castaño.
Paraguayan referee Juan Gabriel Benitez didn’t hesitate to send off the Chelsea midfielder, who immediately apologized to Castaño and stayed closed until the Colombian player got back on his feet.
Curiously, Fernandez is a product of River Plate, which is Castaño’s current team. In addition, as if this coincidence wasn’t enough, the venue of this game happens to be the Mas Monumental Stadium, home to the Argentine giants.
Fernandez joins Messi in unfortunate list with Scaloni’s Argentina
With this red card, Enzo Fernandez became just the third player to be sent off in Argentina during Lionel Scaloni’s tenure as head coach. Surprisingly, one of the players who makes that list is none other than Lionel Messi.
The Inter Miami superstar left his side down to 10 men during the third place match of the 2019 Copa America, following a heated exchange with Chilean veteran Gary Medel on the field.
The second player to see the red card under Scaloni was Nicolas Gonzalez, who got sent off for a similar reason as Fernandez. In March 2025, a high boot against Uruguay forced him to watch the remainder of the game from the sidelines. Argentina won that game 1-0, regardless. Believe it or not, the goal scorer that day was Thiago Almada, who also found the net against Colombia.
