Argentina continue to celebrate their biggest feat in decades. Lionel Messi led the country to its first World Cup success since 1986, emulating Diego Maradona by lifting the trophy with the captain's armband at Qatar 2022.
It wasn't an easy road for La Albiceleste, who had to go to penalties twice in the knockout stages. Before the crucial win over France, Lionel Scaloni's men had to sweat to take down the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
In an extremely heated game, which saw 16 yellow cards, the Argentine players ended up celebrating on the Dutch's faces. Apart from Louis van Gaal, Messi had an argument with Wout Weghorst—who recently spoke about their altercation.
Wout Weghorst addresses beef with Lionel Messi at Qatar 2022
Things got heated between Argentina and the Netherlands in the final minutes, and the exchanges only escalated as the game went to extra time and later to penalties. In the end, Messi called out van Gaal and also dropped an iconic line directed to Weghorst.
"Anda pa'allá, bobo (Keep moving, idiot)," Messi yelled at Weghorst during his post-game interview. The Besiktas striker, currently on loan from Burnley, tried to downplay the incident, suggesting it was all a misunderstanding and that he has the utmost respect for Messi.
"I always give everything and I did the same in the quarterfinal," Weghorst told Dutch outlet De Telegraaf, via the Daily Mail. "I fought against Messi and there were a few moments between us. I think he didn’t like it and that it surprised him. But I have a lot of respect for him. He is among the greatest of all time.
"I wanted to show my respect for Messi after the game, but he didn’t want it. I think he was still angry with me. Oh well, I see it as a great compliment that he knows my name now. Then at least I did something right."
Weghorst is doing the smart thing by not making something bigger out of this. However, we shouldn't expect Messi to speak about this for a while, since he's resting after a very demanding tournament.
