Messi Explains ‘Disrespectful’ Celebration Against Netherlands at World Cup

• Argentina beat Netherlands on penalties in the quarter-final of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup
• It was one of the most chaotic matches at the Mundial and at the centre of it was Lionel Messi
• The Argentina captain has now clarified what happened as it was out of character for him

The aftermaths of Argentina's triumph at the 2022 FIFA World Cup are still showing face, not much has been said by Lionel, but in his first major interview since he became world champion, he has opened up on a few.

One of the major incidents was a gesture made by Messi in front of the Netherlands coaching crew after Argentina beat the Netherlands on penalties to progress to the semi-final.

The captain stood facing the members of Louis van Gaal backroom staff and cusped his ear, a gesture which means I can't hear you, as reported by Mirror UK.

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Messi slammed for disrespecting Netherlands

As reported by Indian Express, Van Gaal's words before the match which said Messi does not participate in team play off the ball was taken as disrespect, and that made Messi make the gesture at him after the match.

As reported by Marca, the World Cup winner claimed he felt disrespected by the Dutch national team in the post match conference, but he has now shed more light on what transpired with the gesture.

Messi clarifies gesture against Netherlands

Speaking in an interview with Urbana Play, as quoted by Barca Universal, the 35-year-old has clarified the incident claiming he never wanted to leave such an image but it did come out of him naturally.

''My celebration against The Netherlands? It came out from me naturally. Some teammates had told me what Van Gaal said before the game. I don't like to leave that image, but it came out like that, there was a lot of nervousness,'' he said.

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He however failed to apologise for it as many would have wanted leading many fans to believe he is not humble as he is portrayed to be.

Messi blocked by Instagram

In one of the aftermaths of the celebration of his World Cup triumph, Messi has revealed that Instagram blocked his account for too many messages, as earlier reported by Sports Brief.

The celebrations went wild on social media and he broke the record for the most like picture on the platform which currently stands at 75m.

His followership also grew by almost 30 million after December 18, but he is still about 100 million less than Cristiano Ronaldo's.