Esteban Edul, the reporter who spoke to Lionel Messi in the aftermath of Argentina’s heated victory over the Netherlands on Friday, has opened up about the unsavoury scenes that took place behind closed doors after the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner got into a fiery argument with Dutch striker Wout Weghorst during his post-match interview.
“After the game, they were all bickering in the locker room, not just Messi,” said Edul. “[Virgil] Van Dijk was falling out with [Nicolas] Otamendi. It looked like a Lanus-Banfield or a Newel’s-Central, but it had more mouth because they were world stars.
“Most of Messi’s anger was about the penalty shoot-out, when the Dutch bothered the Argentines. The 19 [Weghorst] was waiting in the tunnel.
“He approached Messi and asked him for his shirt. It was from there that Leo started to warm up. The Dutch player didn’t understand, he stopped and Messi insulted him.
“He insulted him much more before the start of the interview during which he was a little calmer. He was so angry he didn’t look at me or listen to my questions.”
