BUENOS AIRES: Argentina-Netherlands World Cup quarter match was one of the best matches of the Qatar World Cup. Despite leading by two goals for most of the game, Argentina conceded two goals in the last minute to equalize and eventually win a penalty shootout to advance to the semi-finals. When Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz, who controlled the match, gave the cards one by one, 15 players from both teams saw yellow cards.
Argentina captain Lionel Messi and coach Lionel Scaloni were shown yellow cards. At the end of the shootout, the Netherlands star Dumfries received a second yellow card and received a red card. Before the match, Dutch coach Louis van Gaal made some controversial comments once morest Argentina team and captain Lionel Messi. After winning the match in the shootout, Messi came close to Van Gaal and the fans saw the footage holding both ears as if he had anything to say.
Messi’s victory celebration has also been interpreted as a response to Van Gaal’s harsh treatment of former team-mate Juan Roman Riquelme during his time as Barcelona coach. Fans also discovered that Messi imitated Riquelme’s goal celebration by holding both ears. Messi, who rarely gets angry on and off the field, called the Holland player bad following the match.
But Riquelme said Van Gaal should have given Messi a hug or a kiss before the match instead of provoking him unnecessarily. Some things in football should never happen. Making Messi angry is one such thing. Because once you provoke the best player in the world, it is not easy to contain him. It is impossible.
If Van Gaal had hugged or kissed him instead of provoking him, he wouldn’t have been so angry. Argentina was a great team. In addition, Van Gaal provoked Messi before the match, giving Argentina an extra advantage. “Because if he gets angry, he can’t be fired like some other players,” Riquelme told TYC Sports.