Argentina captain and football icon Lionel Messi was more fired up than usual on Friday night when he helped guide his country to the last four of the World Cup at the expense of the Netherlands.
The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner delightfully assisted the game's opening goal after playing an eye of the needle through ball into the path of Nahuel Molina, before doubling Argentina's advantage mid-way through the second-half from the penalty spot.
As the thousands of fans of La Seleccion erupted with joy following Messi's spot-kick, the player himself seemingly only had one thing on his mind - revenge. The 35-year-old jogged into the direction of the Oranje boss Louis van Gaal, before cupping his ears and simply standing there for a few seconds.
It was a celebration inspired by one of Messi's boyhood heroes who often did the same celebration in Juan Roman Riquelme, the same player who was ousted in brutal fashion from Barcelona than by none other than Van Gaal himself.
During his time in the helm at the Camp Nou, Van Gaal failed to get the best out of Riquelme and didn't seem to rate the South American playmaker as highly as everyone else.
“You’re the best player when you have the ball, but when you don´t we play with one less,” the manager is rumoured to have told Riquelme, whom he also dubbed as a "political signing" by the Barcelona board to try and compensate for the departure of Rivaldo.
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Van Gaal would deliberately deploy Riquelme out of position to try and send a message to those above him in the Blaugrana hierarchy and remind them that they had signed the wrong player and should consult the boss in future.
Messi's adoration of Riquelme has long been well documented, with former Barcelona coach Josep Minguella once recalling: "Sometimes Leo would come around for a barbecue and I remember one time when Riquelme, Rochemback, Motta and some other players came, and I can still see Messi sitting at the bottom of the table looking at Riquelme as if he were Jesus Christ.
"For him Riquelme was his great idol, he was left-footed and played in the number 10 position in Barcelona's first team. However, Leo would only look at him because he was very shy, you had to force words out of him."
Messi has since grown up and established himself as not only the world's best, but a leader of men and dons the captain armband for his country. The 35-year-old was hardly shy and reserved when stood, holding his hands to ears directly in front of the Dutch bench.
