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Cape Town - Lionel Messi blasted the officiating in Argentina's Copa America loss to Brazil by 2-0 on Tuesday after the awarding of a penalty, calling the decision to not check VAR bulls**t.
Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino scored the goals as Brazil beat arch-rivals Argentina to qualify for the Copa America final.
Jesus and Firmino netted a goal apiece in each half to give Brazil a victory which ensured Lionel Messi's frustrating wait for a major international tournament title with Argentina continued.
Hosts Brazil will play the winners of Wednesday's second semi-final between champions Chile and Peru in Sunday's final.
Messi felt Argentina deserved two penalties with the VAR not asking the referee to look at either incident.
"They were not better than us. They found the net early and the second goal came from a penalty [to Aguero] they didn't award," Messi raged to reporters.
"They [the officials] had booked a lot of bulls***, but they didn't even check the VAR, that's incredible.
"That happened all over the game. At the first glance of contact, they ruled in their [Brazil's] favour and this kind of bulls*** distracted us from the game.
"There are no excuses for us, but we need to review this, analyse it and let's hope CONMEBOL does something about it."
Messi, though praised his team-mates performance against Brazil as the wait to lift a major trophy continues.
"I think we played a great game. We made a great effort and they were not superior to us," he said. If I have to help from somewhere, I'm going to do it. I felt very good with this group."
