The 2022 World Cup in Qatar, according to former Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal, was rigged to help Lionel Messi win the championship.
At Lusail Stadium, Messi scored twice in the championship match as Argentina defeated France 4-2 on penalties.
Prior to that, the 36-year-old shown brilliance when they defeated Van Gaal’s then-managed Netherlands in the quarterfinal.
Messi scored during regulation time to help his nation win 4-3 on penalties.
Van Gaal, who left the position soon after, thinks that the competition was fixed so that Messi could finally take home the trophy he had been trying so hard to get.
“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 was all a premeditated game,” he told Dutch outlet, NOS.