“I thought to myself: ‘What an idiot’”: Messi shows regret for provocative World Cup celebrations

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In the documentary ‘Champions: One Year Later’, superstar Lionel Messi (36) looks back on the World Cup in Qatar. The Argentinian talks about the path to the title, which was paved with “large boulders”.

One such lump was called Holland and was eliminated in the semi-finals almost exactly a year ago. There was intense back and forth (17 yellow cards!) and arrows were shot in both directions even before the match. For example, Louis van Gaal (72), then national coach of Elftal, criticized the lack of defensive behavior of the magical flea. He answered on the field – and caused a lot of problems.

After converting a penalty to make it 2-0, he placed his hands behind his ears and directed his celebration towards the Dutch bench. In the documentary, the eight-time world footballer reveals that he immediately regretted his ‘Topo Gigio’, as the gesture is called based on an Italian cartoon mouse with big ears: ‘When I did it, I thought: ‘What an idiot. , they can still equalize.”

Messi: ‘I don’t like it when people do that to me’

And Wout Weghorst (31) promptly scored two goals for the Dutch team – the second came in the eleventh minute of injury time – in extra time. It ended happily for the South Americans, with the Albiceleste having the upper hand in the penalty shootout. However, in the dressing room there was already another war of words, this time with double goal scorer Weghorst.

Looking back, the Inter Miami star says there were a lot of pent-up emotions that had to be released in the heat of the moment. “It bothers me when people talk off the pitch and there is a lack of respect for the opponent,” Messi said. He believes Van Gaal deliberately wanted to inject some tinder into the encounter. “I wouldn’t do something like that and that’s why I don’t like it when people do it to me.” (ch)

Source : Blick