Messi blasts Van Gaal, referee after quarterfinal victory
Argentina superstar Lionel Messi is normally known as a more reserved player. The now 35-year-old playmaker isn’t exactly flashy or loud off of the pitch. However, Messi showed a more ruthless side following his team’s World Cup quarterfinal win against the Netherlands on Friday.
Messi collected a goal, an assist, and converted his penalty to guide Argentina into the semi-finals. After the epic match, the superstar was seen having a fairly heated discussion with Dutch boss Louis van Gaal and assistant coach Edgar Davids.
Debates continued into the tunnel
The debates between the two sides appeared to continue into the tunnel following the game. In fact, video also showed Messi yapping at someone during his postgame interview with Argentine television.
The superstar explained the issues to reporters during the interview. “I feel disrespected by Van Gaal after his pregame comments and some Dutch players spoke too much during the game,” said Messi.
Prior to the matchup, Van Gaal had claimed that Messi does not help out his teammates while out of possession. The star player counterattacked these comments by blasting the Dutchman’s tactics.
“Van Gaal sells that he plays good football and then he puts forwards in the box and starts throwing long balls,” stated Messi. “We deserved to go through and that’s what happened.”
Brash match referee was also heavily criticized
Along with the comments on Van Gaal, the player was also not happy about match referee Antonio Mateo Lahoz. The quirky Spanish ref handed out 17 total yellow cards throughout the historic game. Messi even suggested that FIFA should drop Lahoz from future fixtures.
“I don’t want to speak about referees because after they will sanction you, but people saw what happened,” claimed Messi. “I think FIFA must take care of this. It cannot put a referee like that for a match of such magnitude, of such importance. The referee cannot fail to be up to the task.“
Argentina will now face Croatia in the World Cup semi-finals on Tuesday, December 13th.
Photo credit: IMAGO / PA Images