Joy but also anger.
Leaving the Losail stadium on Friday evening, Lionel Messi was torn between the drunkenness of qualifying for the semi-finals of the World Cup after a victory against the Netherlands and the frustration of having been refereed , according to him, by an incompetent man in black.
"We can't put a referee like that for a match of this magnitude," lambasted Lionel Messi after Argentina's victory over the Netherlands (2-2, 4 t.a. b. to 3) in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.
To discover
World Cup: The complete table of the final phase
All World Cup match results
Download the Le Figaro Sport app and follow the Blues in Qatar
Read alsoAt the end of the suspense and the shots on goal, Messi and Argentina remain alive
"
I believe that Fifa must take care of this
", urged Messi at the microphone of beIN Sports, at the end of a meeting marked by 14 warnings (6 yellow cards against the Dutch and 8 against the Argentines) and several beginnings of fight.
“
The referee cannot fail to be up to par
,” stormed the Argentinian strategist.
"
We suffered what we had to suffer but we got there and that's what is the most beautiful
," he commented on the victory in the snatch of his family.
Read alsoScenario of madness, genius of Messi, Doha in Buenos Aires mode: the favorites / claw after Netherlands-Argentina
An opinion shared by Emiliano Martinez, the goalkeeper of the South American team: "
How crazy, arrogant this referee is... You tell him something, he talks badly to you.
He gave ten minutes of additional time, he wanted us to concede the equalizer.
Honestly, he is the worst referee in the World Cup by far
,” explained the Albiceleste goalkeeper.
World Cup: who are the top scorers in the history of the Blues?
Go to slideshow (15)