Photo: Spanish referee Mateu Lahoz.
Argentina has reached the semi-finals. But Lionel Messi is not happy. His anger with the referee is not resolved. Spanish referee Mateu Lahoz showed 15 cards in the second quarter-final. Eight of these yellow cards were seen by Argentine footballers. The Netherlands footballers saw six yellow cards and one red card.
This isn't the first time Messi vs Lahoz though. In 2020, Messi paid tribute to Diego Maradona by removing his jersey during the Barcelona vs Osasuna match. At that time, Lahoz showed a yellow card. He canceled out one of Messi's goals in the 2013-14 season in La Liga. With that goal disallowed, Barcelona drew against Atletico Madrid. They also won the league. Lahoj had Friday's Argentina vs Netherlands match in hand.
Mateu Lahoz had an argument with Messi during the match. After the match, the star footballer of Argentina said, “I will not say anything about the referee. Because what I will say in front of everyone will not be true. I think FIFA needs to think whether such a referee should be given responsibility for such a match or not. A referee who is not fit for the job should not be given the job."
Messi had questions about the referee before going into the match. He also said that. The captain of Argentina said, "We were scared before the start of the match after seeing the referee's name. Such a referee should not be given responsibility in such an important match."
First, Argentina went ahead with 2 goals. It seemed that Messi has reached the semi-finals of the World Cup. But in the end, the Netherlands paid back 2 goals. The game went into extra time. There was no goal either. In the end, the tiebreaker was the decision of the match. Messi went to the semi-finals after defeating the Netherlands 4-3.
"Maradona is watching us," said Messi, who scored from the penalty spot in the quarter-finals. He is taking us forward. Hopefully Maradona will be with us in the end."
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