World Cup winner Lionel Messi received heavy criticism from soccer pundits all over the world for his mocking gesture toward Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal. Fans have sympathized with the Netherlands coach as the Dutchman overcame one of the toughest challenges in life to mentor the Netherlands team to the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Louis van Gaal was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2020 and has received radiation therapy ever since. The news was, however, only known by his close friends and family.
Louis van Gaal says the treatment he's had for prostate cancer has been successful ❤️ pic.twitter.com/qNJ019ZVju
— GOAL (@goal) April 12, 2022
In April 2022, Van Gaal revealed the unfortunate news of his cancer on a popular Dutch TV show Humberto. He also shared how he has been receiving extensive treatment for his disease. The manager shared, “I was given special treatment in the hospital. I was allowed to go in through a back door and immediately put into another room.”
He further went on, “I didn’t want to tell it to my players because it could have influenced their performances. In each period during my time as manager of the national team, I had to leave in the night to go to the hospital without the players finding out while thinking I was healthy, but… I am not.”
Your idol mocked the person who was suffering from cancer.. https://t.co/H2hDhpsEnx pic.twitter.com/0dsWvkq4yK
— Sheikh Hammad (@RonaldoW7_) August 23, 2023
Thus, Lionel Messi‘s celebration in front of the former Barcelona manager seems to have offended some fans. One fan criticized the World Cup winner’s actions saying, “Your idol mocked the person who was suffering from cancer…”
Louis van Gaal became the Dutch manager for the second time after successfully undergoing treatment for cancer. However, the Dutch failed to get their hands on the World Cup trophy as they were knocked out by Argentina in the quarter-finals.
Lionel Messi regrets his behavior in front of Louis van Gaal during their heated quarterfinal match against Netherlands
Lionel Messi has admitted his regrets over the celebrations during the quarterfinal match in the 2022 World Cup, in which Argentina beat Netherlands 4-3 on penalties.
In an interview with Andy Kusnetzoff, Messi admitted, “I knew what Van Gaal had said but it [the goal celebration] happened on the spur of the moment.”
Lionel Messi really celebrated right in front of Louis van Gaal and the Netherlands bench 🥶 pic.twitter.com/5hu2D1tbG8
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 9, 2022
He continued, “I didn’t like what I did, I didn’t like what happened after. These are moments of nervousness and everything happens very quickly.”
The former PSG player felt disrespected by the 71-year-old’s comments in the pre-match interview. Louis van Gaal had accused Messi of not helping his team enough without the ball. These comments had made the 36-year-old react the way he did in the heated match.