Lionel Messi was feeling a little spicy after his team made it to the semifinals of the World Cup on Friday.
The Argentina star Messi led his team to victory in their quarterfinal match against the Netherlands. Messi assisted his teammate Nahuel Molina on the opening goal in the 35th minute and then scored himself in the 73rd minute on a penalty kick. When the match went to a shootout after the Netherlands scored two late goals to equalize, Messi coolly converted his penalty, beating Dutch keeper Andries Noppert with ease.
World Cup: Netherlands vs Argentina. Messi takes his penalty kick. Cool as cool can be. Total class. pic.twitter.com/nEV0zLqee5
— Irek Bereźniak (@IreneyBerezniak) December 9, 2022
Argentina would win the shootout 4-3 to advance to the semifinals against Croatia. Afterwards, Messi took a big swipe at Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal. Messi criticized van Gaal’s strategy of subbing in taller players late and playing long balls in to them for goal-scoring opportunities. While it did help the Netherlands erase Argentina’s 2-0 lead, the tactic is widely seen as a cheap way of creating chances when you cannot do so any other way.
“Van Gaal says that they play good football,” said Messi, per Sky Sports. “But what he did was put on tall people and hit long balls.”
For some context, van Gaal had made some controversial comments before the match. Most notably, he commented on Messi himself.
“Messi is indeed the most dangerous player who creates the most chances and also makes them himself,” said van Gaal, also per Sky Sports. “But on the other hand he does not play much with the opponent when he has possession of the ball. That is also where our chances lie.”
Messi, who is playing in his final World Cup, clearly took heed of van Gaal’s comments. He was seen doing a disrespectful celebration in the direction of van Gaal and the Netherlands bench after scoring during the shootout. After the final whistle, Messi also approached van Gaal and voiced some heated remarks towards him.
Lionel Messi really celebrated right in front of Louis van Gaal and the Netherlands bench 🥶 pic.twitter.com/5hu2D1tbG8
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 9, 2022
Messi shares some words with Louis van Gaal and the Netherlands staff after the game pic.twitter.com/uDrKXyIf62
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 9, 2022
It should also be noted that van Gaal has clashed with multiple players of Argentinian descent over the years. That includes Angel di Maria (whom van Gaal managed at Manchester United) and the retired Jose Roman Riquelme (whom he managed at F.C. Barcelona).
Messi, the captain for Argentina, clearly has no love lost for van Gaal as a result. Additionally, Friday’s quarterfinal match saw tempers flare between the two sides during the actual match as well.
