Lionel Messi has expressed his regret over his and his team’s actions during their penalty shootout win over the Dutch in the quarterfinal of the Qatar World Cup.
Messi and his teammates took exception to the comments made by the Netherlands’ coach Louis Van Gaal before their match. The Argentine captain then celebrated his 73rd-minute penalty goal by running in front of the Netherlands bench and cupping his hands to his ears.
The animosity did not end there, with Messi then pictured arguing with Van Gaal and his assistant Edgar Davids after the full-time whistle.
The 35-year-old also reportedly shouted at Netherlands goal scorer Wout Weghorst during a postgame interview: “What are you looking at fool? Get back there.”
In an interview with Andy Kusnetzoff for “Perros de la Calle“, Messi bemoaned his actions against the Dutch.
“I knew what Van Gaal had said but it [the goal celebration] happened on the spur of the moment,” Messi said.
“I didn’t like what I did, I didn’t like what happened after. These are moments of nervousness and everything happens very quickly.”
The emotionally charged game set Argentina up perfectly for the remainder of the tournament. They used their uncompromising approach to win their first World Cup trophy over France since 1986.
