Dibu Martínez, the Argentine goalkeeper, bluntly described him as “by far the worst World Cup referee”
The victory failed to dampen the fiery spirit of the Argentine players, who eventually became very angry with the referee, Spain’s Mateu Lahoz, blaming them for taking them to extra time. “I felt a lot of anger,” Messi said, “but I’m not going to talk about the referee because then they punish you and you can’t be fair.” However, the Argentine with ten made it very clear what he thought: «People already saw what it was. We were afraid of the game because we knew what it was like. FIFA cannot put such a referee in a match with such a league and who is not up to the task. An hour later, at the press conference and already cold, he confirms all his words: «Mateu hurt us. That fault was not their fault ».
Harder still was the goalkeeper, Dibu Martínez, who roundly described him as “by far the worst World Cup referee”. “The referee wanted us to draw. I don’t know what he took from the free kick or why he gave 10 minutes of extra time,” the goalkeeper continued. The one who did not want to get involved in the controversy, no matter how much the Argentinian journalists asked him, was Lionel Scaloni. The Argentina coach assured from the start that he would not talk about the referee: «I know him, I have a good relationship with him and that’s all. Fortunately, it ended well.”
Messi’s anger extended to the Dutch coach, Louis van Gaal, whom he attacked for his football proposal: “Van Gaal sells that he plays good football, but then he only hits balls.” The Argentina star, in a way, gave it back to the coach, who had previously criticized him for “not playing much against the rival when he didn’t have possession”. Scaloni defended his pupil: «Leo was a little moved. He is the best in history and we are not playing with ten, but with eleven ». The Argentine coach was surprised by Van Gaal’s approach in the second half: «They presented a very strange second half, the game was cut short because they focused on throwing balls at the attackers. It’s legal to play like this, but they force you to defend because they put three attackers out of a ninety. It played us in a way we didn’t expect, that’s right, but they also stayed out of the World Cup. The questioned Louis van Gaal, who is saying goodbye to the Orange, was not fooled: «They scored a goal with a great pass from Messi. But we had a height advantage with the attackers. We liked it and we got the draw ».
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Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
