(Reuters) – Argentine playmaker Lionel Messi and goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez criticized Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz on Friday for his performance in the 4-3 penalty shoot-out victory over the Netherlands that sent Argentina through to the semi-finals of the World Cup in Qatar.
Coach Lionel Scaloni’s team reached the top four of the tournament after suffering in the 120 minutes of regulation time, which ended with the score of 2 x 2. Now the team will face Croatia, who eliminated Brazil earlier, also on penalties.
Martínez, who became Argentina’s hero after saving the first two penalty kicks, called Mateu Lahoz “the worst referee of the Cup”, while Messi asked FIFA to review the referee’s participation in the most important stages of the tournament.
“Very angry, because as I said, it was not supposed to end like this (the game). Fifa has to review this, it cannot put a referee like that for a game like that”, said Messi, who regretted that the referee was not “up to it”.
“We suffered very unfairly… not just for the (additional) minutes, but because of the whole game, many details that inside the field you realize that he wants to influence the game,” added Messi.
Lahoz, 45, has recently refereed several Champions League matches and Spanish media have said he was one of the candidates to take charge of the World Cup final, which will be played on December 18.
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