Argentina Players Take Major Security Step After Controversial 'Falklands Islands' Celebration At FIFA World Cup
Argentina stars Lisandro Martinez and Alexis Mac Allister, who play their club football in the English Premier League, are reportedly increased security around their homes in England.
Argentina stars Lisandro Martinez and Alexis Mac Allister, who play their club football in the English Premier League, are reportedly increased security around their homes in England. This follows Argentina and England's heated FIFA World Cup 2026 semi-final clash, which ended 2-1 in Argentina's favour. Martinez had held a controversial banner reading 'Las Malvinas Son Argentinas' ('The Falkland Islands Are Argentine'), while Mac Allister was close to the celebrations too. Falkland Islands is a UK-administered territory, over which there has been long-standing diplomatic tension between the UK and Argentina.
Private security guards were present in front of the players' homes for two days after Argentina's semi-final win, according to a report by The Sun.
However, no attempts of vandalism at the players' homes were recorded by local authorities. Manchester United, the club which Martinez plays for, did not intervene in his private security arrangements.
Mac Allister plays for Liverpool, one of United's fiercest rivals.
After the match, Martinez was asked if the banner could have stirred deep emotions and brought tears to a veteran of the Malvinas conflict.
"We couldn't let the Argentine people down," said Martinez, who has played in England for the past four years with Manchester United.
Argentina player Leandro Paredes explained in detail their decision to carry the banner.
"Sadly, it's a painful part of our history for everyone involved in that chapter of our past. And it hurts. We knew we were playing for them too, for all the people, for our entire nation. I believe we did it in the best possible way," Paredes said on Sky News. "We always wanted to convey that, for us, it wasn't just a football match."
The sporting rivalry between the two countries is heightened by political tensions over the South Atlantic archipelago. It is a British Overseas Territory with a population of around 3,500 people, located about 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) from the U.K. and 300 miles (480 kilometers) from Argentina.
Argentina argues that the islands were illegally taken from it in 1833. Britain, which says its territorial claim dates to 1765, sent a warship to the islands in 1833 to expel Argentine forces that sought to establish sovereignty over the territory.
The war in 1982 killed 649 Argentine troops, 255 British service personnel, and three islanders.
That conflict ended during the 1982 World Cup in Spain, where Argentina, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland all played. British television networks declined to broadcast Argentina's opening game of the tournament, in which the defending champions lost to Belgium.
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