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There’s a new “Hand of God” incident in the World Cup. Well, at least according to several Netherlands and football fans who saw Argentina star Lionel Messi escape with a deliberate handball against the Dutch side.
Early in the second half of the contest, Messi was caught on video committing a blatant handball foul. Video replays of the incident showed how clearly he violated the rules, though he surprisingly avoided getting a yellow card for the incident, or worse, being sent off.
The video of Lionel Messi’s handball might be even worse than the photo 😳
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) December 9, 2022
Naturally the incident angered a lot of fans. After all, it would have been game-changing for the Netherlands, who saw Messi score a goal in the 73rd minute to put Argentina 2-0. The Dutchmen came back from the two-goal deficit and only lost in the penalty shootout, but many believe they could have won had Messi been booked or sent off.
“Of course, the Spanish referee did a poor job in Argentina/Netherlands game. He let off Lionel Messi when he should have been carded for handball. In fact couple of Argentinian Players should have been sent off and possibly a Netherlands player too,” one critic wrote.
Dominic Booth of Sporting News added, “The referee not booking Messi for handball because… it’s Lionel Messi.”
“My brother in Christ, Lionel Messi should have been sent off for that handball,” another Twitter user said.
Some people also couldn’t help but call it the new “Hand of God,” in reference to Diego Maradona’s illegal handball that led to a goal in the 1986 World Cup against England. Interestingly, that game was also a quarterfinal match for Argentina.
“It’s the Hand of God guys, totally allowed. !vamos!” one commenter wrote. While another user said, “Somewhere Diego Maradona is smiling.”
It’s certainly not a good look for Lionel Messi, though. The fact that tensions were high between Argentina and the Netherlands after the game only makes things even worse.
At the end of the day, though, Argentina is moving on to the semifinals. And sure enough, they have a lot to prove as they look to win the title in Qatar.