Piers Morgan unleashed his fury as he blasted the Argentina football team following their win against England in the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday. After the final whistle, Argentina players held up a banner reading "Las Malvinas son Argentinas", which translates as "The Falklands are Argentine". Fifa is "assessing match reports" before deciding whether to punish Argentina as they may face disciplinary action.

The Falkland Islands are a British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean. They remain the subject of a sovereignty dispute between Britain and Argentina, with the two countries waging a brief but bitter war over the territory in 1982. A British military task force ejected Argentine forces, who had landed on the Falklands to stake a territorial claim. The 74-day conflict led to the deaths of 255 British military personnel, three islanders and 649 Argentine soldiers.

In a furious rant posted by the outspoken presenter on Thursday, the 61-year-old hit out at the Argentina players in a foul-mouthed bombshell.

In view of his 8.8 million followers, Piers fumed: "Classless pr**ks. I hope Spain beat them as badly in the Final as we beat them in the Falklands War."

His comments sparked a divide on social media as one argued: "Bringing up a literal war because your football team couldn't defend a 1-0 lead is the ultimate definition of classless. Cry louder."

Another echoed: "What Argentina has done to people in this world cup needs to be documented, never seen people cry this loud just because the team they hate keeps winning."

But others agreed with Piers, as a third wrote: "Same here.. I'd rather have Spain win it than this Argentine team.. totally classless bunch..."

The government of the Falkland Islands said it was "disappointed but not surprised" about the banner and it hopes Fifa will "sanction all behaviour of this nature in line with its own rules"

"We do not wish to see politics being brought into sport" a statement added.

"Nor do we wish the Islands and their people to be used as a political football in every conversation about England and Argentina".

In 2013, the people of the Falkland Islands voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining a UK overseas territory.