Battle of Lusail

The first half of the game was relatively balanced, with both sides never having a clear-cut chance for the opening half-hour of the game. Both teams had dominant spells with Argentina coming close to creating a chance several times but being stopped by a disciplined Dutch defense. Walter Samuel, the Albiceleste assistant manager, was cautioned at around the half-hour mark. Argentina talisman Messi then cut through the Dutch defense with a precise pass to assist Molina for the first goal of the night. The half was relatively incident free but the game started getting more antagonistic onwards from the 43rd minute when the first yellow card was handed to Dutch center-back Jurriën Timber, which was quickly followed by a trio of yellow cards for his team-mate Weghorst, who was on the bench at the time, as well as Argentines Cristian Romero and Marcos Acuña, who received his second caution of the tournament and was thus rendered unavailable for the semi-finals. The half ended with Argentina in control, and the Dutch failing to create a clear goalscoring opportunity.

The second half was highly dramatic, as the game intensified and the Dutch pressed on for an equaliser. Acuña was brought down at the edge of the box around the 70-minute mark, and the resulting penalty was converted by Messi to hand the Argentines a two-goal lead with only 20 minutes of regulation time remaining. Messi then celebrated in front of Van Gaal and the Dutch bench. The goal was also Messi's tenth goal in a World Cup match, tying Gabriel Batistuta's record for most World Cup goals by an Argentine player.[17] Messi celebrated the goal by cupping his hands around his ears in front of the Dutch bench, considered "a jibe" toward Van Gaal; the gesture was reminiscent of a goal celebration sometimes used by former Argentina player Juan Roman Riquelme, "who reportedly had disagreements with Van Gaal when they were both at Barcelona in the early 2000s."[10][18]

Messi controversially visibly handled the ball to stop play twice, but wasn't reprimanded. The Dutch made substitutions and changed their play style, to capitalize on the height and physical size advantages they had over the Argentine side. Weghorst, who had picked up a yellow card on the bench, was one of these substitutions.[3][17] As the Dutch players searched for a crucial goal, tempers rapidly flared as Memphis Depay and Lisandro Martínez both received yellow cards. Weghorst then scored to make the score 2-1, beating the keeper with a header after a cross by Steven Berghuis. The Dutch then intensified the search for a vital equalising goal, and tempers flared greatly with several cautions handed out. Berghuis was given a yellow-card as anger increased between the two teams. Leandro Paredes then fouled Nathan Aké, before booting the dead ball right into the Dutch bench, leading to a major scuffle as the incensed Dutch players closed in on Paredes, who was shoved to the ground by Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk. The Argentina bench then came to back their player up with pushing and shoving observed, as Paredes was promptly carded, and the tensions increased to such a degree that even Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni was cautioned. With the game almost over, Weghorst then scored with the last kick of the game to send the game to extra time.

After the shock of the last-minute equaliser, the Argentina players immediately went on the attack, trying to reimpose the goal advantage. However, resolute defending by the Netherlands saw the game stay tied. Argentina pressed on, creating several chances, and coming closest to scoring a goal when a shot by Enzo Fernández hit the goalpost. With the game tied after extra time, the match progressed to a penalty shoot-out.

Netherlands captain Van Dijk took their first penalty. His shot to the left was blocked by an athletic save from Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez. Messi then took the first penalty of the shootout for his side, and his second penalty of the night, sending the keeper the wrong way to cooly slot his penalty, giving Argentina an early advantage. Steven Berguis' effort was then saved by Martínez, with Paredes scoring to give Argentina a 2-0 advantage after two turns each. Teun Koopmeiners then scored the Netherlands' first penalty of the night, reducing the deficit only for it to be restored by Gonzalo Montiel. Weghorst then scored his penalty to again reduce the arrears for the Dutch, and this time, Fernandez hit the post with his penalty, Argentina's first miss of the shootout. Luuk De Jong then equalised for the Netherlands, leading to a decisive fifth penalty for Argentina. As Lautaro Martínez started walking from the mid-circle, he was accompanied and harassed by several Dutch players, especially defender Denzel Dumfries, who was given two yellow cards and thus, sent off. Lautaro then scored to give the Argentines their second consecutive victory over the Dutch in penalty shootouts.[1]

Following the match in Lusail, Messi revealed that he felt disrespected by Van Gaal's pre-match comments.[6] The Telegraph wrote that the post-match interviews continued the "aggressive" nature of the game, "with Messi snapping at the Dutch camp as he talked."[3] The incident saw Messi say "¿Qué mirás, bobo? ¿Qué mirás? Andá pa' allá bobo," roughly translating to "What are you looking at fool?" toward Weghorst.[23][24] The moment drew buzz on social media, spawning many Internet memes.[25][26] Weghorst reportedly just wanted to shake Messi's hand, causing some media outlets to view Messi's comments toward him as verbally abusive or "unfair".[10][26]

The performance of referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz received heavy criticism, as fans, pundits, and media alike considered a yellow card to be too lenient for some incidents. Mateu Lahoz also overlooked a potential handball by Messi and the length of the injury time added was considered excessive by some media outlets.[27] The number of yellow cards, a record 18, issued by Mateu Lahoz was also criticised.[n 4][7] Criticism was also levied particularly at his decision to caution players while the penalty shoot-out was happening, after open-play had ended.[28]