Dutch defender Nathan Aké has put an end to the controversy with Argentina: “It’s part of the game, I don’t think we should judge too much”

The Argentine national team and the Netherlands played a very close and emotional duel for the quarter-finals of Qatar 2022. An arbitration that left much to be desired, provocations everywhere and riots at the first sign of a controversial move were the actions that grabbed the spotlight.

There has been a lot of talk these days about the attitudes of Argentine players. Paredes’ shot to the substitutes’ bench, Lionel Messi’s mole Gigio to Louis Van Gaal and company or the already popular “What are you looking at, idiot” by the Argentine captain to Wout Weghorst were the reactions of the members of La Scaloneta. But of course, there were also provocations and attempts at mischief on the other side. One only has to see how Lautaro Martínez was reprimanded before the final penalty to realize that the Dutch have invoked all their tricks.

Nathan Ake, Manchester City defender and one of the Netherlands’ high points in Qatar, opened up and revealed that both he and his team-mates were responsible for the atmosphere around the match. Logically, in a World Cup quarter-final nobody wants to give away anything and almost all methods of obtaining results are valid.

“This shows how much they wanted to win the game, we wanted the same thing. This was all part of the game. I don’t think we should judge too much”were the words of the central defender.

There has been much criticism of the Argentine players for their behavior on the pitch, but Aké’s statements show that the provocative play was from both sides. A game with such an accelerated heartbeat and a referee like Mateu Lahoz, not up to the task, resulted in 14 bookings.

From such a flurry of yellow cards, Lionel Scaloni will have to make a mandatory variant. Marco Acuna He reached two yellow cards and will not be available against Croatia. His place will take Nicholas Tagliafico. The other hit was Gonzalo Montielwho has also accumulated two yellow cards, and will not be able to be part of the squad.