Juan Riquelme claims Louis van Gaal’s comments incensed Lionel Messi and prompted his celebration
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‘You can’t make him mad’: Juan Riquelme claims Louis van Gaal’s comments angered Lionel Messi before their World Cup clash, prompting his provocative celebration at Argentina’s win… and says the Dutchman I should have ‘KISSED’ him instead
- Argentina beat the Netherlands on penalties in the quarterfinals of the World Cup
- Lionel Messi celebrated in front of Louis van Gaal after scoring in the match
- The Dutch coach had dismissed Messi’s threat before the game
Lionel Messi’s former Argentina teammate Juan Román Riquelme believes former Dutchman Louis van Gaal was foolish to anger Lionel Messi ahead of their World Cup quarter-final clash.
Before the game, Van Gaal said that “it was not difficult to find an answer on how to stop it”, having previously claimed that Messi did not touch the ball when the two nations met in the 2014 World Cup.
The quarterfinals in Qatar would go down as the fiercest game of the tournament with 15 yellow cards, and Messi’s team eventually advanced on penalties.
Lionel Messi celebrated in front of Louis van Gaal (2nd right) after scoring against the Netherlands
Juan Román Riquelme, who also did the celebration, says that Van Gaal was foolish to anger Messi
The PSG star scored a penalty during the 2-2 draw and directed his celebration towards Van Gaal, covering his ears.
It was a celebration inspired by Riquelme, one of Messi’s childhood heroes, who was once brutally thrown out of Barcelona by Van Gaal.
Speaking of the incident, Riquelme said TyC : ‘I think Van Gaal had said something and he shouldn’t have.’
There are things that cannot happen in football. You can’t make him (Messi) angry. It is preferable to hug him, kiss him, so that he does not want to hit you.
Messi was clearly fired up during the heated World Cup quarter-final clash in Qatar
‘When the best player in the world gets angry, you don’t have a chance to beat him. It is impossible. That’s why Van Gaal’s words about Argentina were actually very good for them. And on top of that, Messi has an advantage because, when he gets angry, they don’t send him off like other players.
Riquelme added about his relationship with Messi: ‘He knows that I love him very much, we talk from time to time. I don’t bother him much, but we have a very good relationship. I only wrote to him when we lost the first game and when we won the final.
I always said that as long as Messi plays, Argentina will always be the favourites. He wants to compete, he plays soccer like he would on the street. When he plays, it’s wonderful.