Wout Weghorst has admitted he was left “very disappointed” by his altercation with Lionel Messi, pointing the blame at the Argentine icon.
Argentina booked their place in the World Cup semi final on Friday night after a dramatic and feisty encounter with Netherlands. Messi’s side looked to be cruising into the last four after goals from Nahuel Molina and a penalty from the Paris Saint-Germain superstar put them two goals up.
But a late double from Weghorst - who endured a miserable spell with Burnley last season - including a last-second strike took the game into extra time. Both sides had chances in the additional 30 minutes, but the game went to penalties with the South American champions progressing.
The drama wasn’t over there however, with both sets of players clashing following a match which saw 15 yellow cards dished out. Messi was then spotted arguing with Dutch boss Louis van Gaal and his assistant Edgar Davis, before taking aim at Weghorst in his post-match media commitments.
While speaking to reporters, Messi can be seen looking beyond the camera to shout towards Weghorst: "What are you looking at fool/stupid?. Get back there."
Weghorst has now given his own version of events, suggesting that the hostilities were spawned when Messi opted to snub his offer of a handshake.
“I went to shake his hand after the game. He has not accepted it and has said something rude to me, but I do not understand Spanish very well. I'm very disappointed,” Weghorst told Gol.
That’s a vastly different recollection to that of Messi’s compatriot and former team-mate Sergio Aguero. The ex-Manchester City striker alleged that it was Weghorst who was confrontational, approaching Messi as the teams made their way back to the dressing rooms.
Aguero explained: “We were just starting to enter the dressing room when this big guy (Weghorst) started to shout ‘hey, hey, Messi.’
“Leo turned around to look at him and said what he said. The guy then told him ‘come here and say that.’ So I jumped in there and told him to shut up.
“I said ‘why are you talking to Messi like that?’ He then said to me ‘don’t tell me to shut up.’ It was a hot moment so I said ‘ok, it’s over. Go away. Shake my hand and good luck’.”
Argentina will now prepare for their semi-final clash with Croatia on Tuesday, although they will do so under the cloud of a FIFA investigation. On Saturday it was confirmed that the governing body’s disciplinary committee were looking into two potential breaches.
"The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has opened proceedings against the Argentinian Football Association due to potential breaches of articles 12 (Misconduct of players and officials) and 16 (Order and security at matches) of the FIFA Disciplinary Code during the Netherlands v. Argentina FIFA World Cup™ match that took place on 9 December," the statement read.
