Lionel Messi’s Copa America campaign finished just over 45 minutes after the Argentina captain was sent off along with Chile’s Gary Medel in the third-place play-off at the Arena Corinthians.

Messi and Argentina came flying out of the blocks in the crunchy encounter after tasting elimination in controversial circumstances at the hands of Brazil on Tuesday.

After just 12 minutes into the match, the Albiceleste went ahead with Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero converting past Gabriel Arias in the Chile net after latching on to a brilliant quickly taken free-kick from  Messi. But both teams were soon to be reduced to 10 men as tensions and emotions boiled over.

A seemingly innocuous scuffle between Messi and notoriously bad-tempered Chile hard man, ‘Pitbull’ Medel quickly escalated into a full-on brawl towards the end of the first half.

From replays, the Barcelona talisman certainly provoked his opponent by pushing and harrying him past his own goal-line.

The Argentina captain was largely motionless when Medel came back throwing his shoulders and forehead repeatedly into his adversary’s face. Argentina went on to win the match 2-1.