Louis van Gaal, the former coach of the Dutch national football team, has expressed his belief that Lionel Messi and Argentina won the World Cup due to a potential fix.
The 72-year-old coach led the Netherlands team that was eliminated in the quarterfinals by the eventual champions. The match between Argentina and the Netherlands ended in a thrilling 2-2 draw at Doha’s Lusail Stadium in Qatar, with Argentina ultimately prevailing on penalties.
The game saw a total of sixteen yellow cards issued, with Dutch right-back Denzel Dumfries being sent off in the closing moments of extra-time. Argentina would go on to win the World Cup final against France on penalties, with Messi scoring twice and Kylian Mbappe grabbing a hat-trick. Van Gaal has alleged that Argentina may have received assistance in their victory.
“I don’t really want to say much about it. When you see how Argentina gets the goals and how we get the goals, and how some Argentina players overstepped the mark and were not punished, then I think it all premeditated game,” the former Dutch boss told NOS on Tuesday.
The veteran boss was then asked to elaborate on his remarks and said: “I mean everything I say.”
When Van Gaal was asked again whether he thought that Messi had to win the tournament at all costs, the Dutchman didn’t hesitate to give a clear answer.
“I think so, yes,” he claimed.
