Lionel Messi slammed referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz for dishing out a record 18 yellow cards during Argentina’s quarter-final clash with the Netherlands.
The Argentina saver said the Spanish official was not cut out for the job of officiating matches on a stage as big as the World Cup last eight. Lahoz showed a record 18 yellow cards and gave Dutch defender Denzel Dumfries a red after the final whistle.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Messi said: “I don’t want to talk about the referee because you can’t be honest. If you talk they sanction you, FIFA must think about it, they can’t put a referee like that for these instances, they can’t put a referee who isn’t up to the task.”
Incidentally, the Netherlands were involved in the game that held the previous record for the highest number of yellow cards in a World Cup match. The infamous Portugal-Netherlands last-16 tie – dubbed ‘the Battle of Nuremberg’ – at the 2006 World Cup had 16 bookings.
Lionel Scaloni’s side next face Croatia in the semi-final on December 13.
Post Match Insights
1. Argentina have won the most penalty shootouts of any side in World Cup history (5 wins from 6), while only Spain (4) have lost more penalty shootouts at the World Cup than Netherlands (1 win from 4).
2. Argentina have progressed from a World Cup quarter-final for the fourth time – they went on to reach the final in each of the previous three instances (1986, 1990, 2014).
3. There were 15 cards shown to players that entered the field of play in this match, the most in World Cup history, overtaking Cameroon-Germany in 2002 (14 – 12 yellows and 2 reds).