Egypt manager finally explains meaning behind 'X' gesture he used in World Cup loss against Argentina

Egypt's manager has finally revealed why he performed an 'X' gesture during his side's 3-2 loss to Argentina in the World Cup round of 16 clash.

Hossam Hassan caused a stir when he crossed his arms and made the gesture towards referee Francois Letexier in the 98th minute of the contest.

Egypt surrendered a 2-0 lead against the world champions, who turned it around with goals from Cristiano Romero, Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernandez in a crazy 13-minute period.

Egypt felt aggrieved by the refereeing, particularly the decision to chalk off a goal scored by Mostafa Ziko.

They also protested about what they felt was a foul on Mo Salah in the build-up to Fernandez's 93rd minute.

Messi was also involved in the exchange in an intense final stretch of the game.

READ MORE: FIFA break laws of football with controversial World Cup final decision

The 'X' gesture is typically as a way to report alleged racist abuse in a game and happened in Benfica vs Real Madrid in the Champions League earlier this year.

Members of the Egypt bench completely lost it and Hassan was shown putting up the X gesture before his twin brother Ibrahim, his assistant manager, removed his hands from the position and placed them by his side.

However, more than a week on from the crushing defeat and Hassan has clarified what he meant by displaying the gesture and revealing what happened during his encounter with Messi.

As per The Sun, he said: "The gesture wasn’t racist. I was telling [the ref], ‘you’re not being fair’.

"[Messi] came up to me and said, ‘why?’ Why? Why?’ And I don’t know what else.

“It was one of the few times Messi got into arguments during a match. And he ended up crying because he was having a hard time emotionally.

“We were a very tough team and we put them in a difficult position. I tried not to respond to him and to avoid any verbal friction between us, out of respect for his career.”

Feeling they were hard done by, the Egyptian FA released an explosive statement calling for FIFA to remove the officials involved in the fixture as the federation "demanded the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes".

They also said the officials were guilty of "blatant errors and insisting on not reviewing some of the footage".

After claims that Argentina were favoured, FIFA were forced to issue a statement through Pierluigi Collina as the referee chief blasted "unfounded allegations" and the questioning of match officials' integrity.

Egypt manager could face FIFA sanction after World Cup

Hassan has not been punished for his behaviour or post-match comments where he said it is "clear that the pressure put on the referee before the match by the Argentine side succeeded".

Not done there, he also said: "Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running."

That prompted the response from FIFA but Hassan could still be sanctioned by the world governing body.

According to The Athletic, FIFA will wait until the conclusion of the tournament to issue any sanctions for those deemed to have brought the game into disrepute.

That was the case in 2022 following the World Cup in Qatar.

Hassan and Egypt player Ziko may be at risk of a sanction, while Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji and England boss Thomas Tuchel also publicly slammed referees.