Following Argentina's triumph in the quarter-finals of Qatar 2022 over the Netherlands, Lionel Messi was criticized for his behaviour towards coach Louis van Gaal and striker Wout Weghorst.
Argentina won the 2022 FIFA World Cup after defeating defending champions France on penalties.
The Argentine star received many accolades for his performances in what was his first World Cup triumph after four prior attempts. However, ahead of the final, Messi was criticized for his behavior following the quarter-final match with Netherlands. Messi has admitted that he didn’t like how he behaved with Dutch manager Van Gaal and Weghorst.
“I didn’t think about it, it came out in the moment,” Messi said while speaking of the incident involving Weghorst in an interview.
“Everything that came out was natural, a lot had happened on the field with that player in reality and a couple more,”
“At the moment of tension, friction, crossing, when the game gets like that, the fever with the referee too. He was in the mixed zone and the game had just finished. And well, I know that there is everything now.”
“I did know everything that had been said before the game, what he [Van Gaal] had said. Even some of my teammates were telling me ‘Did you see what he said,’ on purpose”.
“And well, when it’s all over, I don’t like what I did, I don’t like the ‘keep moving’ and all that. But well, they are moments of huge tension, huge nervousness and everything happens very fast”.
“One reacts the way one reacts, but nothing was planned. It just happened. I don’t like to leave that image, but these are things that happen,” the Paris Saint-Germain star said.
