Emi Martinez gave bitter rivals Brazil the ultimate insult as Argentina cruised towards a wide victory which sealed their qualification for the 2026 World Cup. The Albiceleste won 4-1 to extend their lead at the top of their qualifying group and pull further away from fourth-place strugglers Brazil.

Argentina played without injured talisman Lionel Messi. But they held a comfortable advantage by the time Martinez was up to his usual tricks, with first-half goals from Julian Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez and Alexis Mac Allister sending them on their way, and Guiliano Simeone sealing the victory in the 71st minute.

Matheus Cunha had put Brazil on the board midway through the first half, but that mattered little as the game wound down. And after receiving the ball late on, Martinez rubbed salt into Brazilian wounds by flicking it up and doing keepy-uppies with his knees under no pressure from the opposition.

That was just one incident in a jam-packed game which centred around Raphinha’s controversial pre-match comments. The Brazil winger stated: “We will beat them, no doubt. On and off the pitch, if we have to.” When interviewer Romario said “F*** them?”, Raphinha replied: “F*** them.”

Those remarks clearly riled up the Argentines, who have now gone five consecutive head-to-heads unbeaten. In one altercation with former Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi, Raphinha was told to ‘talk less’.

Things ramped up another notch after the final whistle, when Raphinha was barged into by Martinez and patronisingly touched on the face by both Leandro Paredes and Cristian Romero. The Barcelona star reacted angrily and had to be physically pulled away by team-mate Endrick.

Raphinha’s torture would continue as Argentina players grouped together and celebrated with their home fans, chanting: “A minute of silence for Raphinha, who is dead.”

Paredes said in a post-match interview: “You shouldn’t talk beforehand, especially when you can’t back it up on the field. We always do our talking on the pitch.”

Alvarez added: “I just think with humility and hard work, we played a great game and gave them a lesson.” And midfielder Rodrigo De Paul chimed in with: “We have never disrespected anyone before a game.

“Over all these years, we have been disrespected quite a lot. No one helped us. We achieved everything on our own. And we keep proving it. We have been the best national team in the last six years.”