In one of the most outlandish defenses of the referee’s decision, Mexican soccer team Atlas FC posted a tweet quoting Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels.
During the team’s League Cup game against the New York City team, the VAR deemed NYCFC to be offside with a late tying goal and knocked it off the board in a game that the Atlas won 1-0.
A Mexican YouTuber by the name of Gabo Montiel – aka Werevertumorro – criticized the overturned decision while pointing to a perceived history of questionable calls in favor of Atlas in Liga MX play.
“Today they helped Atlas and they’ll say: Wasn’t the arbitration against the MX League?” I swear to you, the opinion of many people can influence … Do you remember when everything went in Ligamx in favor of Atlas until people started referring to it and out of nowhere the advantages disappeared? Well, something like that happened today, I read Montell’s tweet.
Although the club was not tagged in their statement, Atlas saw it and decided to respond – tagging Werevertumorro – and used Goebbels’ quote in their defence.
Atlas FC decided to defend a controversial claim by citing Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels
The tweet paraphrases Goebbels’ “Lie, lie. If you tell a big enough lie and keep repeating it, people will eventually believe it.”
“This shot is totally clear,” the tweet read in Spanish. “The infiltration takes place in the first play. It is unfortunate how “influencers” and “analysts” manipulate the media and generate ideas of “supposed help.”
But remember what Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Information (Hitler’s right-hand man) said perfectly applies: “Lie, lie, lie.” [and it will] Remains. The bigger the lie, the more believable it is.”
Shocked, Montell tweeted again. ‘Have you had anything like this before?’ Do you remember any team tweeting this type? Responding to the “influencer” (so they say)… and citing the Nazi? I’ve never considered myself an influencer but I fantasize about influencing an organization that does a lot of juggling.
The tweet remained elevated at the time of publication and prompted reactions of confusion and shock.
One football journalist wrote, “I’m shocked this is still up 2 hours later and no one at AtlasFC doesn’t see the problem with a tweet where not only is Goebbels mentioned but (Hitler’s right hand) is also there…crazy…”
Drake Hills of Tennessee writes: ‘Quoting the Nazi Minister of Information for a sneak call. This is the League Cup (?)”
“I’m very, very, very (very) surprised Atlas hasn’t deleted this tweet yet,” said César Hernandez, ESPN’s Mexican soccer writer.
Ryan Gerbosi of Newsday wrote, “Atlas references Goebbels and Nazel while complaining about the reaction to a sneak call *that went her way* that wasn’t on my #LellowCup bingo card.”
Social media was shocked by the outrageous tweet and that it was not deleted
Athletic’s Jeff Rutter said, “I can’t believe we need to make this clear, but there is not a single event on a football field that will justify comparison to the Holocaust.”
Mexican fans were also shocked by the tweet and its reaction, with one saying: ‘In which class of communication (school) [are you taught] To associate your brand with the Third Reich?
Another said: “And there was no way to explain that without citing the Nazis on Monday before noon?”
Atlas plays in the city of Guadalajara – which has the second largest Jewish population in the country after the capital, Mexico City.
