Scaloni's assistant shuts down rumours of a rift in the Argentina camp

Inghilterra Argentina 2-1

Ayala rejects conspiracy theories

Argentina's coaching staff have broken their silence to put an end to the flood of rumours and conspiracy theories that erupted following the World Cup final defeat to Spain. The scepticism touched on everything, from the players' facial expressions to Lionel Messi's words before the match.

Roberto Fabian Ayala, assistant to head coach Lionel Scaloni, spoke out in comments carried by the Argentine newspaper "tycsports". Everything doing the rounds about something unusual in the final, he said, is completely untrue.

Ayala added: "These are things we hear and we say: (it cannot be that they are saying this).. because none of that happened, quite the opposite in fact."

His comments answered a wave of theories that spread heavily on social media since Argentina's 1-0 defeat to Spain at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The promoters claimed Argentina's players arrived with gloomy faces and did not manage a single shot on target across the 120 minutes, that Messi urged his teammates with the phrase "let's forget everything" before taking to the pitch, and that Enzo Fernandez picked up a yellow card simply for talking.

Scaloni got there first. The head coach appeared angry when asked, as he left the Ezeiza training complex, about an "internal dispute" within the national team. "I cannot believe what you are asking me, we have gone off topic, lads," he said.

Before returning to his hometown of Bujato, Ayala fielded further questions about the theories circulating online, particularly Messi's motivational speech and the team's performance. He answered with firm resolve despite his friendly tone: "I do not follow social media, I do not know anything, I have no idea what you are talking about," a clear message to cut off any speculation at its roots.

Fans and even some journalists on social media, meanwhile, are busy turning intuition and guesswork into absolute facts, without having set foot in the stadium.

Argentina's coaching staff insist the only truth belongs to those who walked out onto the MetLife Stadium pitch last Sunday. Spain were the better side and settled the title.