Lionel Messi pulled no punches towards Wout Weghorst in his heated war of words, despite the Netherlands hero having a heartwarming request for the Argentina captain.
That is according to reporter Esteban Edul, who was interviewing Messi at the time that the Paris Saint-Germain superstar appeared to verbally lash out at Weghorst.
Messi, 35, set up Nahuel Molina for Argentina’s first-half opener before he converted from the spot-kick in the second half against the Netherlands.
However, Weghorst came off the bench to score a stunning brace and forced the World Cup quarter-final tie into extra-time.
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Messi and Co ultimately emerged victorious in their penalty shootout win at the Lusail Stadium and punched their ticket to the semi-finals in Qatar.
However, the Argentina skipper was not completely overjoyed after his side’s hard-fought victory, with Messi aiming a brutal dig at referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz.
Lahoz was brutally slammed after he dished out a whopping 18 cards during the match, including a sending off for Netherlands full-back Denzel Dumfries.
During an interview with TyC Sports, a furious Messi called out Weghorst for looking at him and dismissed the “silly” 30-year-old Burnley loanee.
“What are you looking at, silly? Go over there,” Messi said to Weghorst.
Edul has now shared his first-hand account of what happened during his time with Messi, saying the PSG forward was more furious about the shootout.
“After the game, they were all bickering in the locker room, not just Messi,” he told Argentine newspaper Ole.
“[Virgil] Van Dijk was falling out with [Nicolas] Otamendi. It looked like a Lanus-Banfield or a Newel’s-Central, but it had more mouth because they were world stars.
“Most of Messi’s anger was about the penalty shootout, when the Dutch bothered the Argentines. The 19 [Weghorst] was waiting in the tunnel.”
According to Edul, the verbal spat between Messi and Weghorst took place long before his interview with the Barcelona legend.
He also had to intervene and stop Messi in case the heated Argentina forward said something he might have later regretted.
Edul claimed that Weghorst had approached Messi with a heartwarming request of getting his shirt, but it was at that point the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner started to “warm up.”
He claimed that Weghorst, who is on loan at Turkish side Besiktas, “didn’t understand” and even “stopped” while Messi “insulted” him.
“He [Weghorst] approached Messi and asked him for his shirt. It was from there that Leo started to warm up,” Edul explained.
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“The Dutch player didn’t understand, he stopped and Messi insulted him. He insulted him much more before the start of the interview during which he was a little calmer.
“He was so angry he didn't look at me or listen to my questions. I asked him about his incredible pass for [Nahuel] Molina and he told me about [Louis] Van Gaal, FIFA… I couldn’t ask him.
“At one point, while we were on the air, I said to him, ‘Quiet, Leo,’ because there were a lot of people from FIFA and you never know what can happen. It’s a memory that will live on forever.”
Topics: Lionel Messi, Argentina, Football World Cup, Netherlands, Football
Adnan Riaz