Spain superstar Lamine Yamal mocked Argentina brute Leandro Paredes with a punchy sign at his country's World Cup celebrations in Madrid.

Two million Spain supporters crowded the streets of the capital to welcome their heroes after they defeated Argentina 1-0 in the World Cup final.

But the immediate aftermath of the match was marred by the barbarous antics of Paredes, who attacked two Spain players.

He grabbed Eric Garcia by the throat before shoving over substitute Gavi, causing a large-scale melee in the middle of the pitch - and it's that second act to which Yamal's sign referred.

Yamal held up a sign which read: 'Velada del ano VII: Paredes vs Gavi'. The Velada del Ano is a celebrity boxing event in Spain, not unlike Misfits.

Argentina were widely condemned for their behaviour after losing the final and were dubbed 'disgusting' by the BBC's pundits.

More to follow.  

Micah Richards said of their behaviour: 'It's embarrassing. They were on the cusp every single time.

'Seeing that sort of stuff after the game was played, it's not good, it's embarrassing to be honest. Paredes is better than that. We all know what it's like to lose a game but this is not good enough.'

Joe Hart added: 'Disgusting behaviour. There was one man on that pitch with class and that was Lionel Messi.'

Wayne Rooney said: 'It doesn't surprise me. We've seen this from Argentina before. It's just sad, very poor from them.

'If you lose a game of football, be graceful. It's a reaction to them being outplayed. Enzo Fernandez has got what he deserves.'

Argentina were thuggish throughout the World Cup final, just as they had been against England in the semis.

Fernandez complained against his dismissal for a second yellow but his late foul on Pau Cubarsi, which sent the defender flying, was atrocious.

Paredes was also fortunate to not be sent off in regular time for a foul on the edge of the box which presented Lamine Yamal with a last-breath free-kick before extra-time.

Argentina only had two shots in the entire match, the first of which came in the 117th minute.

By contrast, they were trigger-happy on the fouls with 24 - though Spain didn't have clean hands themselves, as they gave away 21.

Alan Shearer said: 'There's a way to lose. Too many times we've seen that reaction from them. They were trying to win free-kicks and their reaction after full time was terrible. The best team won. It's a result for football because of the way Spain have played.'

Even Lionel Messi didn't rise above the dark arts. The legendary forward was lambasted by Wayne Rooney after he tried to get Marc Cucurella sent off during the latter stages of the game.

The game descended into chaos when Fernandez received his second yellow card.

This led to a melee between both sets of players and Cucurella was spotted saying something to Messi.

The left-back then put a couple of fingers over his mouth and continued speaking, a move which the Argentine immediately reacted to and waved over the referee.

As per FIFA's rules for this tournament, if a player holds their hand over their mouth in a confrontational situation, they will be sent off.

This was seen with Miguel Almiron for Paraguay in the group stage and Piero Hincapie in the knockout stages for Ecuador.

However, it didn't appear that Cucurella was speaking in a confrontational manner and the referee, nor VAR, decided to intervene.

The BBC pundits were quick to hit out at Messi's behaviour as his team headed into extra time a man down.

Hart said: 'Oh wow! Wow! Yeah, I didn't enjoy that at all from Lionel Messi.

'You realise how on top Spain are if even Lionel Messi is reverting to that.'

Richards added: 'We don't want to see people getting sent off in a World Cup final for that.'

Rooney was similarly furious with Messi's behaviour as he said: 'It is desperation.

'Argentina play like that, we know that's what they do.

'But the one thing you want is good sportsmanship and that was sad to see Lionel Messi doing that.'