Both sets of players were unimpressed with the performance of Lahoz, with the game being stopped time and time again for fouls.
And things threatened to boil over at one point when Leandro Paredes booted the ball at the Dutch bench after being unhappy with a free kick Lahoz gave against him.
PSG midfielder Paredes then appeared to meet his match as he was barged over by Dutch captain Virgil van Dijk.
In his post-match interview, Messi said of Lahoz: “I think that FIFA cannot use this referee for this type of match because he is not up to the task.”
The 17 cards the referee handed out to players (on top of two to coaching staff) during the match set an all-time record, beating another infamous clash involving the Netherlands.
However while a record amount of yellow cards were brandished by Lahoz, a large section of football fans believed Messi was getting away with blue murder during the tense knockout encounter.
English media figure Piers Morgan, renowned Cristiano Ronaldo lover, was leading the charge against Messi at the conclusion of the match.
“Messi shouldn’t have been on the pitch,” Morgan wrote.
“Should have got a 2nd booking & red card.”
While Messi was booked 10 minutes into extra time, there were numerous other occasions where fans were convinced he should have picked up another.
One such occasion came in the 54th minute as the Argentinian legend appeared to deliberately knock down the ball with his right hand.
The football world was left completely stunned that the referee failed to book Messi over the incident – given deliberate handballs are automatic bookings.
Fans also pointed out Messi could have easily been booked for a number of messy challenges late in the game.
Although the PSG superstar was lucky to be on the pitch, he was the furthest thing from happy with the referee during the match, and could be seen regularly arguing with him over his officiating.
Messi and Lahoz have previous from his time playing at Barcelona, and bizarrely enough one of their biggest run-ins was related to Diego Maradona himself.
After Argentina legend Maradona passed away, Messi celebrated a goal by unveiling the number ten shirt of Newell’s Old Boys – the club he supports, and Maradona briefly played for.
However, Lahoz was not willing to bend the rules even after Maradona’s death and promptly showed the then-Barca star a yellow card.
In his post-match interview with beIN Sports, goalkeeper Emi Martinez was even more scathing towards the ref than Messi.
He said of Lahoz: “The referee was giving everything to them. He gave 10 minutes for no reason…
“He just wanted them to score.
“Hopefully we don’t have that ref any more, he’s useless.”
– With The Sun
