Favoured by the refs? Argentina star calls claim bullshit | OneFootball

After the defeat in the World Cup final against Spain (0-1), Rodrigo de Paul addressed strong words to those who had criticized the Argentine national team throughout the tournament. 

On Instagram, the 32-year-old wrote: "Today I see how many people were waiting for this downfall and spread baseless conspiracy theories throughout the entire World Cup just to ease their own pain because they could not experience what all of us Argentinians experienced. Because our smile bothers them, because our way gets on their nerves." With that, he fired back at the critical voices who had claimed during the tournament that Argentina had been favored by the referees. 

He also wrote, addressing the critics: "But that has done nothing but confirm that the passion and love for our jersey can overcome anything. It will hurt me for a long time, but today more than ever I am proud to be Argentinian."

For him, the greatest pain would be that the team could not bring the World Cup title back to Argentina again. "Because if anyone deserved to experience that feeling once more, it was you," de Paul also said to his teammates. 

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 MAURO PIMENTEL - AFP or licensors