The Qatar World Cup 2022 has produced some highly memorable matches so far. But the most bonkers match was probably the one that took place between Argentina and the Netherlands in the quarter-finals clash on Friday.
The game was absolutely essential stuff for football fans and produced stuff to keep you on the edge of your seats.
But the player who had everyone talking about him was none other than Lionel Messi. The Argentine captain won the Man of the Match award after another amazing performance.
He was the centre of attention, being very strictly marked by the opposition players and given very little room to operate in the final third.
Despite that, Messi still delivered an incredible assist to set up Nahuel Molina’s opening goal before also slotting away the penalty earned by him. But just as it looked like Messi & co were strolling their way to a convincing win, Wout Weghorst happened.
Indeed, the Burnley striker scored two goals in the dying minutes of the game to force extra time, which seemed to have really angered Messi.
It was after things went into extra time when the PSG forward seemed to have lost his head a little bit and was visibly angry on the pitch.
Suddenly, the ‘good guy’ had disappeared and a completely different personality of the Argentina captain came to life. Messi was done being the kind footballer and brought out the inner villain in him.
This was all during a truly wild game, which saw players from both sides come to blows multiple games and referee Mateu Lahoz unable to control things from spiralling out of control.
Messi was clearly infuriated at the referee’s performance but also lost his cool when the Netherlands’ personnel started to mock him and trigger him to do something bad.
This might be my favourite match of football ever…Messi and Argentina villain arc>>>>>>> pic.twitter.com/6bammLAH26
Messi also gave them quite the earful, making his displeasure quite clear. He ended up getting into a quarrel with Netherlands’ hero Werghorst, exchanging a war of words with him before heading down the tunnel to fulfil post-match interview duties.
It was during his interview that he caught a glimpse of Weghorst trying to approach him and absolutely lambasted him, calling him a ‘fool’ and basically telling him to get lost.
Messi gave a post-match interview for the ages, calling out the referee for ruining the game and hinting that Lahoz wanted the game to go into extra time and added extra minutes on purpose.
He also lambasted Van Gaal’s playing style, stating that all the Netherlands did was fling long balls into the box and hope for the best.
This was a side of Messi that nobody had ever seen in public and his outbursts stunned some fans, even though his fans ended up loving seeing the fire in his belly.
Messi needs to keep himself in check because the World Cup isn’t over yet.
He’s just two more matches away from finally winning that one trophy that has evaded him all throughout his career, knowing that winning the World Cup can truly establish him as the greatest of all time.
