The Argentine star, Lionel Messi, appeared angry after the end of his country's match against the Netherlands - yesterday, Friday - with a difficult qualification for the semi-finals, and after the match he criticized the Spanish referee, Matteo Lahoz, who managed the match, and the Netherlands coach, Louis van Gaal, and entered into a fight during a television interview.
The match between Argentina and the Netherlands - which was hosted by Lusail Stadium yesterday - ended in a 2-2 draw in the regular and extra time, and Messi's comrades decided the confrontation with a penalty shootout 4-3, and ended the Dutch dreams of reaching the semi-finals.
The Argentine star said after the match, "I felt disrespected by Van Gaal, after his statements before the match. Many Dutch players talked a lot during the match."
Messi was referring to the Dutch coach's statements before yesterday's match, in which he returned to the 2014 World Cup semi-final match between the two teams, saying, "8 years ago in the World Cup in Brazil, we succeeded well in containing Messi. He did not hit any ball at that time."
That match ended in a goalless draw, and Argentina won on penalties before losing to Germany in the final.
And he added in his statements, "Van Gaal advertises that he plays good football, then he puts the attackers in the penalty area and starts playing long balls. We deserved to cross, and this is what happened."
Messi and Lahoz
On the other hand, the captain of the Argentine national team criticized the Spanish referee, Mateo Lahoz, who distributed 16 yellow cards during the match, and said, "I do not want to evaluate or comment on the performance of the referees, but I do not think that the decisions were sometimes in our favor, but rather they harmed us at times, we suffered from them." A lot, the match was generally tough and we could have excluded this match from the World Cup, but that did not happen.
Messi added, "We must say that the referee cannot be talked to and be frank in our conversation with him, but people saw what happened. Before the match we were apprehensive because we knew what would happen, and (the International Federation) FIFA should take care of this and a referee like him should not be appointed to lead." A match of this importance, the referee should not be at this level."
Contact us directly
On the other hand, Messi - who won the award for best player - reacted to someone during a television interview with an Argentine channel, and the Paris Saint-Germain player seemed very angry, and said, "What are you looking at? Go from here, you idiot."
The camera did not show the identity of the person to whom Messi addressed these phrases, but media reports confirmed that his words were directed at the Dutch player Vout Fijkhorst, who scored both goals for his country after entering as a substitute in the second half of the match.
According to those sources, Fichhorst tried to approach Messi during an interview, but the Argentine star was not ready to respond to any request from the Dutch player.
Messi and his companions are preparing to face Croatia in the World Cup semi-finals next Tuesday, amid growing enthusiasm among the Argentine fans, who are looking forward to their first World Cup title since 1986.