World Cup 2022: Football Fan Loses $160,000 After Backing Argentina to Beat Saudi Arabia in Group C Opener

• Argentina suffered a shock 2-1 loss at the hands of Saudi Arabia in their World Cup Group C opener on Tuesday
• The South American football giants were widely backed to kick off their World Cup campaign on a winning note
• This seemed to be the case for one confident punter who placed a $160,000 bet on a win by La Albiceleste
• However, Lionel Messi and co. went on to suffer a humiliating loss despite dominance in the opening exchanges

A football fan has been left counting his losses, after he backed Argentina to beat Saudi Arabia in their Group C World Cup opener.

The punter is understood to have placed a huge bet on Lionel Messi and his team to see off the Middle East nation in the Tuesday cracker.

However, Hervé Renard's charges pulled off one of the most stunning upsets in the history of the World Cup to down La Albiceleste.

Saudi Arabia shock Argentina as Al Shehri, Al Dawsari net 2 goals in 5 minutes cancelling Messi’s opener

Football

Despite being the dominant side during initial stages of the tie, Argentina were unable to make their dominance count and were condemned to an embarrassing 2-1 defeat.

Messi needed just 10 minutes of action to break the deadlock, only for Saleh Al-Shehri to restore parity for Saudi Arabia shortly after the break.

Salem Al-Dawsari handed the Saudis the lead five minutes later and the Green Falcons managed to hold firm to secure the three points.

Fan loses by backing Argentina

While it was a historic win for Saudi Arabia, it was a result to forget for one unlucky fan, who lost an outrageous amount of money by backing Argentina.

According to the Daily Mail, Australian betting company TAB confirmed one confident punter placed an audacious $160,000 on La Albiceleste to win.

Argentina had more offsides in first half versus Saudi Arabia than they did in all of the 2018 World Cup

Football

It is understood that odds were at 1.13, which would have netted a $180,800 return for the punter.

Meanwhile, Argentina will now be looking to get their World Cup campaign back on track when they play Mexico in their second group fixture on Saturday, November 26.

Fans slam Argentina coach

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that Manchester United fans were fuming on social media, after Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni snubbed Lisandro Martinez for 34-year-old Nicolas Otamendi in his side’s starting line-up to face Saudi Arabia.

Ahead of the match, there was a surprise in the Argentina backline, as Benfica centre-back Otamendi was picked to keep out the Middle East opposition.

The decision was not very alarming at first, as La Albiceleste looked like surefire favourites for the game on paper.