"In the first incident, the referee could have sent me off. They were two senseless tackles, a rush of blood to the head which has made me miss another important Argentina game," he told the TyC cable sports channel.

He implied that the second incident was unintentional. "The Paraguayan was very cunning, as I soon as I lost the ball, he started rolling around on the pitch. I apologised to my teammates but they said I didn't need to. I can't find an explanation for what I did. The game was calm and I felt it was my match."

Tevez, suspended for Wednedsay's visit to Peru, said he had received a talking-to from coach Alfio Basile. "I felt I had the coach's confidence," he said. "When we spoke, I told him how I felt and asked for forgiveness. Fortunately, he understood me."

Tevez was previously dismissed in November's match in Colombia. Argentina, winning 1-0 at the time, went on to lose 2-1.