The World Cup 2022, came with lots of moments, whether it was South Korea’s win against Germany or Morocco qualifying for the semi-finals. One moment that was by far the most heated of them all was the quarter-final clash between Argentina and Netherlands.
Dutch-Argentine rivalry is known to all with their most iconic match coming in the 1978 final. The last game recorded a total of 17 yellow cards and 48 fouls, an all-time high. Lionel Messi recently revealed what happened in the match against the Netherlands.
He said, “Before the match, they started making statements publicly and causing friction among us, especially the coach Van Gaal and the player who appeared in the conference before the match”.
Messi also talked about the fact that during the penalty shoot out the players acted unfairly. Lionel Messi also talked about how the Netherlands wanted to make Argentina look like the villain.
🚨⚔️🇳🇱 Messi talks about the actions in the World Cup against the Netherlands:
“Before the match, they started making statements publicly and causing friction among us, especially the coach Van Gaal and the player who appeared in the conference before the match. In the match,… pic.twitter.com/YrY8RDy5m9
— All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 (@AlbicelesteTalk) November 4, 2023
The Argentine captain also commented on his ‘Que Mira bobo’ remark. He said, “This is because of what happened before and during the match. They talked a lot”. Messi also emphasized the fact that the moment was very tense and everyone was acting differently.
Inter forward Lautaro Martinez also shared his view on the match saying that Messi getting angry was very important. Despite all these, the Inter Miami star regrets arguing with Van Gaal after Argentina won the match.
What did Louis Van Gaal and Wout Weghorst comment after their loss?
Van Gaal after the match stated that in no way was he disrespectful of Messi and the Argentina team. He also went on to say that the media misinterpreted him as he has the utmost respect for Messi as a player.
Weghorst on Messi altercation:
“I wanted to give him a hand after the football match. But he smashed my hand away and didn’t want to speak with me.”
“My spanish is not good, but they were not respectful words. So it was really disappointing.” pic.twitter.com/lw3FZ3FVeC
— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) December 10, 2022
Weghorst responded to the comments of Messi saying that he went just to shake his hand but Messi was rude to him and speaking of what Messi said, Weghorst replied saying –“I do not understand Spanish very well”.
Quarter Finals
FT after ’90 + 2×15 minutes : 🇳🇱 Netherlands ( Wout Weghorst ’83 ’90+11 ) 2-2 Argentina 🇦🇷 ( Nahuel Molina ’35 Lionel Messi ’73p )
Argentina wins 4-3 on penalties !!!
ARGENTINA TO SEMIFINALS !!!#FIFAWorldCup #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/XZQZNWAyFc
— don kang kaos®️ (@_doncorleone78) December 9, 2022
Van Gaal recently spoke about how the World Cup was ‘Premediated’ for Argentina and Messi’s win. The Dutch manager also spoke about how some Argentina players went off the line and did not get the punishment they deserved. Van Gaal also said that Argentina was ‘lucky’ to win the match on penalties.
Captain of the national team Virgil Van Dijk did not agree with this former manager’s words and said “It is of course his opinion. Everyone is allowed to have an opinion. I do not share the same opinion.” Messi and Van Gaal have a long-standing cold relationship that dates back to 2014.