World Cup, Messi against the referee: “Not up to par”. And what sparks with Van Gaal

Lionel Messi is happy because Argentina is progressing in the World Cup, but his statements after the victory on penalties over the Netherlands are a mix of satisfaction and anger. “A lot of joy and relief, we struggled but it’s normal in the quarter-finals – explained the Albiceleste captain -. At a certain point we had to suffer, but we overcame the obstacle and it’s impressive. Argentina demonstrates game by game that he wants to be the protagonist, who understands the moments, that when he has to play, he plays… and when he has to run, he runs”.

Against the referee

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Messi, however, has something to say about Spaniard Mateu Lahoz’s direction of the match: “I felt a lot of anger, it shouldn’t have ended like this. I don’t want to talk about the referee because then you get sanctioned, you can’t say what you think because they sanction you. Fifa, however, cannot place a referee who is not up to his task.” Leo’s nerves were shaken by the free-kick that led to the 2-2, granted in the 100th minute of the game.

Against Van Gaal

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Verbal sparks also with Louis Van Gaal, who had said before the match “we know how to stop Messi, we will do it as a team, he is not unstoppable”. According to some Argentine media, Leo would have looked for Van Gaal at the end of the match, and to the microphones in the first interviews after the match he would have said these words: “Van Gaal sells smoke, he says that the teams play well but they only know how to throw balls”. The two had already caught each other after the penalty of the momentary 2-0. Again in front of the microphones, a video portrays him while he turns to a grumpy interlocutor not framed, apostrophizing him thus: “What are you looking at, stupid? Go, go, get out of there”.

Now Croatia

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Looking to the semi-final, Messi finds his smile instead: “We are very excited, for us and for the people who always accompany us. Croatia are a very difficult opponent. They have great players, they know each other very well. They have the same coach as last World Cup and it’s a semi-final, so it’s going to be really tough.”