Photographers and photographers captured how a number of players from Argentina, led by Otamendi, challenged the Dutch. “I celebrated in their faces because there was a player from Holland who came to us with every penalty we took and yelled at our players.”

Otamendi says the photo was widely shared without the context being clear. “That picture doesn’t tell the whole story. We responded to their behavior.”

Otamendi did not mention the behavior of whoever was responding. After the match, there was a confrontation between Lionel Messi and Wout Weghorst. Messi shouted at him angrily: ‘What are you looking at you idiot? Get away’.

It rains cards

It was a hot match anyway. Referee Antonio Mateo Lahoz dealt a lot of cards. Denzel Dumfries was booked twice (hence a red card) after the match after reacting angrily to a provocation from Argentina’s Nicolas Otamendi.

Lahuz gave six other Orange players yellow, Jurriën Timber, Wout Weghorst, Memphis Depay, Steven Berghuis, Steven Bergwijn and Noa Lang.

Argentina even conceded eight yellow penalties against Marcos Acuña, Christian Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Leandro Paredes, Nicolas Otamendi, Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Montiel and German Pezzella. Early in the match, assistant coach Walter Samuel also received a yellow card and later in the match, national team coach Lionel Scaloni, too.

The Netherlands have held the World Cup record for most cards since 2006, along with Portugal. In the round of 16, referee Valentin Ivanov sent off four players with a red card after two yellow cards. Eight other players received one yellow card. In total, Ivanov reached twenty times into his shirt pocket for a map.