The Egypt FA have called for a referee to be stood down after their dramatic loss to Argentina in the World Cup.

The Pharaohs led the reigning champions 2-0 deep into the second half in Atlanta in the Round of 16 tie, but a late Messi-inspired comeback saw La Albiceleste come from behind to win 3-2, with Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez heading in the winner.

It was another dramatic knockout game for Messi and Argentina, who needed a late goal in extra-time to see off Cape Verde in the Round of 32. They now move on to face Switzerland after their penalty shoot-out win over Colombia.

However, Egypt are aggrieved at the performance by referee Francois Letexier, particularly with their ruled-out goal in the second half.

Mostafa Zico originally made it 2-0 to the African side just before the hour mark, but a lengthy VAR review deemed that Lisandro Martinez was fouled in the lead-up to it.

Egypt would go on to score a second goal anyway, but after Argentina’s comeback to 2-2, the Pharaohs also feel that talisman Mohamed Salah was fouled in the box before Argentina ran up the other end to score the winner.

The grievances have led to the Egyptian FA releasing an explosive statement announcing they have filed an official complaint with FIFA.

‘Hany Abou Rida, president of the Egyptian football federation, filed a complaint with FIFA, demanding an investigation into the French referee Francois Letexier after the serious refereeing mistakes committed by the team of referees and double standards, which caused the Egypt team to lose the match and leave the World Cup’, the statement read.

The FA claimed that the refereeing team made ‘blatant errors and insisted on not reviewing some of the footage’, before they ‘demanded the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes’, alleging ‘the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian national team.’

Egypt’s camp were up in arms after their defeat, and speaking to the media afterwards, the Head Coach, Hossam Hassan, echoed the grievances. ‘Life is unfair,’ Hassan said. ‘The world is unfair. Normal life is unfair. Why isn’t there any fairness in sport? In football?

‘I do not want to try to put it nicely here with beautiful wording. We have been treated unfairly today. We have suffered injustice.

‘I am not going to continue following the matches of this World Cup. It is my own way of speaking up and standing up. I am not going to watch a single match of this tournament.’

Meanwhile, Mostafa Zico was more blunt in his assessment of the refereeing in their match.

‘The referee was not fair. The injustice was clear. We did a good job in the early stages of the match. There’s been an unfairness right from the start of the match. A 2-0 lead isn’t enough to beat Argentina. It is clear this tournament has been fixed.’