Lionel Messi might have had his second hand of god moment, his first in the FIFA World Cup, in the quarterfinal against Netherlands on Friday. The ball smashed the No 10’s hand in the second-half. However, he was not booked.
Also read: Frenkie de Jong and Lisandro Martinez booked after on-pitch fight, social media abuzz
Argentina defeated Netherlands 4-3 on penalties to advance to the semi-finals against Croatia, who earlier in the day beat Brazil.
In the second-half, when Argentina led 1-0, the ball touched Messi’s hand. However, the referee concluded that it was not intentional and did not book the player.
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Eventually, the match finished 2-2 after extra time. Netherlands scored two late goals to stun Argentina. Messi converted his penalty in the shootout and goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez saved two attempts. Lautaro Martinez scored the clinching penalty to win the game.
Dutch manager Louis van Gaal was upset that Messi was given the penalty in the first half. Some social media users trolled the match referee for giving decision’s in Argentina’s favour.
“I would like to see the penalty call back. And all this time wasting from the Argentines… But we didn’t lose due to the referee. Because we drew,” Van Gaal said after the game. He is now set to resign from the post of Netherlands manager.
“I mean I get it, its Messi’s last WC but come on he needs to be treated equally, this ref seems to be really one-sided. Just my opinion,” a Twitter user said.
“Yes The Netherlands plays shit but the ref is definitely helping Argentina, if not only because of Messi,” one more added.
“This ref has lost the match. The obvious intentional hand ball by Messi getting no yellow. Then he fouls 2x in a row before getting called and neither were in the flow of the game, no card. The penalty Açuna drew was a dive. Just garbage,” a third one said on Twitter.
