Pobre paloma #CopaAmerica2019 #argentinavsvenezuela pic.twitter.com/EZNw9TKK1N
— CATE (@cesar_ios) June 28, 2019
Argentina’s Rodrigo De Paul was tackled by a pigeon during the 2-0 Copa América quarter-finals win over Venezuela at the Maracanã on Friday.
The Udinese winger was attempting to shield the ball from the attentions of two opponents when he dribbled unexpectedly over the bird interloper.
Here we have Rodrigo de Paul trying to nutmeg a bird #CopaAmerica https://t.co/MqkRGCwYsn
— • (@louorns) June 28, 2019
A combination of this and a challenge from Darwin Machís sent De Paul crashing to the turf as the pigeon took flight, hopefully unharmed.
Lionel Scaloni’s Argentines set up a semi-final date with Brazil on Wednesday night with goals from Lautaro Martínez and Giovani Lo Celso.
Chile will take on Peru in Thursday’s fixture, with the winners of each match meeting in Sunday’s final.