It all kicked off during Lionel Messi's post-match interview, he called someone a 'fool'
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They may have progressed to a World Cup semi-final after beating the Netherlands on penalties, but Lionel Messi gave a fiesty post-match interview after Argentina's latest win.
It was a bad tempered clash for large spells at the Lusail Stadium. In fact, there was a total of 15 bookings throughout Friday's clash, the most in any game in World Cup history.
Leandro Paredes booted the ball at the Netherlands dugout, which sparked a massive on-field brawl that resulted in Paredes getting floored by the giant frame of Virgil van Dijk.
And after the game, a furious Lionel Messi got in the face of Louis van Gaal. But more on that later.
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Moments after the incident and as Messi prepared to speak to Argentine publication TYC Sports, the 35-year-old was clearly in the mood to give out a verbal lashing.
According to The Independent's chief football writer Miguel Delaney, the Argentina captain said: "What are you looking at, fool" to one of the Dutch camp.
In fact, SVT Sport reporter Johan Kücükaslan was standing just two metres away from Messi when the interview was taking place and apparently, the jibe was aimed at Netherlands goalscorer Wout Weghorst.
You can see that footage below.
Messi 🤬😂
— Sacha Pisani (@Sachk0) December 9, 2022
“Que miras bobo”
“What are you looking at you fool” #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/T9eItrMihX
Messi went on to name-drop Weghorst, who netted twice to level the scores, in his post-match comments.
“I don't like people talking before games," he said, as translated by Twitter user @AlbicelesteTalk. "The number 19 (Weghorst) came and started to provoke us, bump into us, tell us things. Their coach was not respectful to us either.”
He added: "It seemed disrespectful to me, that a coach of his caliber declared like that. Van Gaal does not respect the Argentina National Team.”
Messi certainly made his feelings known to Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal, both during and after the game.
Ahead of kick-off, Van Gaal said Argentina's captain “doesn’t participate much” when his side lose the ball.
Speaking to NOS, he said: “Messi is the most dangerous creative player, he is able to create a lot and to score goals himself. But when they lose the ball and the opponent has possession he doesn’t participate much, and this gives us chances [to exploit].”
So after he netted for La Albiceleste on Friday night, he decided to celebrate in front of the former Manchester United manager like so.
Messi to Van Gaal 😭😭😭
— All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 (@AlbicelesteTalk) December 9, 2022
pic.twitter.com/AboPbD2AqH
Then, after the full-time whistle, Messi went for a stern word with both Van Gaal and Edgar Davids.
He later told reporters: "Van Gaal says that they play good football, but what he did was put on tall people and hit long balls.
"I don't want to talk about the referee because you can't be honest. If you talk they sanction you, FIFA must think about it, they can't put a referee like that for these instances, they can't put a referee who isn't up to the task."
Louis van Gaal criticó a Messi en la previa del partido entre Argentina y Países Bajos, Messi en el final lo fue a buscar..!!! pic.twitter.com/KgEBjTO7Tx
— Matias_Clima_Meteo 🇺🇾 (@AficionadoMeteo) December 9, 2022
Argentina will face Croatia in Tuesday's semi-final clash at the Lusail Stadium after Zlatko Dalic's side pulled off one of the shocks of the tournament to beat Brazil.
Can Lionel Messi and co. lift the World Cup?
Let us know in the comments.
Featured Image Credit: TYC Sports
Topics: Lionel Messi, Argentina, Netherlands, Louis Van Gaal, Football World Cup
