Virgil van Dijk publicly disagrees with former Dutch manager Louis van Gaal’s recent comments suggesting last year’s World Cup was up to Lionel Messi to win the title.
In one of the most exciting matches of last winter’s tournament, Liverpool’s captain’s national team faced Argentina, Messi’s future world champion, in the quarter-finals.
The South Americans took the lead in the first half, which was then doubled by Messi with 17 minutes remaining from the penalty spot. Then one of the most unlikely encounters – completed by a stunning free kick in 11th minute of stoppage time – put the European nation back level and on course for extra time.
An extra half hour was still not enough to separate them, so a penalty shoot-out decided the adventurous 4–3 draw in favor of Argentina. Van Gaal, 72, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier this year, subsequently brought the curtain down on his third spell in charge of his country’s national team despite remaining technically unbeaten after 20 matches.
Whatever the case, the former Manchester United manager shared some surprising insights into Argentina’s progress in Qatar this week, claiming match-fixing was taking place.
During an Eredivisie gala in Utrecht on Monday, he told NOS: ‘I don’t want to say much about it. When you see how Argentina scores and how we concede goals and how some Argentinian players have crossed the line without being penalised, I think it’s all premeditated.
“I mean everything I say seriously. That Messi should become world champion? I think so.”
At the start of the international break, this comment caused a real storm. NOS then tried to find out if anyone in the current team, now managed by Ronald Koeman, shared the same beliefs as his former boss.
However, Van Dijk, who was partly responsible for his side’s elimination after a poorly saved penalty from Emiliano Martinez, was quick to disprove that theory when he arrived at the Netherlands training camp yesterday.
