Netherlands striker Wout Weghorst has admitted he was ‘disappointed’ by the conduct of Lionel Messi following Argentina’s victory over the Oranje in the World Cup quarter-finals.

Messi was conducting a post-match interview following the game when he broke away to lock eyes with Weghorst, saying to the former Wolfsburg striker: “What are you looking at, dummy? Go on that way, dummy. Go away,”

Speaking in his own post-match interview, Weghorst claimed he had only been looking to shake Messi’s hand and congratulate him, but was dismissed by the 35-year-old.

“I wanted to give him a hand after the match. I’ve got a lot of respect for him as a football player,” insisted Weghorst.

“He smashed my hand away and he didn’t want to speak with me.

“My Spanish is not so good, but [Messi’s] words were not respectful. It’s really disappointing.”

Weghorst had turned the tide of the game when he came off the bench to score two late goals and level the scores, the second of which was a tidy finish after a well-worked free-kick routine in the 101st minute of normal time.

Despite being a thrilling contest between two top international sides, the game was at constant threat of boiling over as arguments and physical fights broke out between the two sets of players.

Messi added further fuel to the fire when he celebrated scoring Argentina’s second goal directly in front of the Dutch bench, holding his hands up to antagonise Dutch manager Louis van Gaal after feeling ‘disrespected’ by the boss.

The Paris Saint-Germain winger has garnered a reputation for his cool head and humility throughout his career, but appeared to let the mask slip in what will go down as a legendary World Cup match.