Who is Wout Weghorst, the man who infuriated Lionel Messi?

Wout Weghorst is a name many football fans really got to know during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The Dutchman stole the show against Argentina, but also incurred the ire of Lionel Messi.

Who is Wout Weghorst, and what was his trajectory up to that infamous game against Argentina?

Weghorst started his professional career with FC Emmen, in the second division of Dutch football. In 2014, he was signed by Eredivisie club Heracles Almelo on a free transfer.

In 2016, Weghorst went on to play for AZ Alkmaar, which paid €1.5 million for the striker. He would go on to become an important player for the club, scoring 45 goals in 86 appearances (Transfermarkt).

With his good performances, he attracted interest from abroad, and it was VfL Wolfsburg who pulled the trigger in the summer of 2018 by paying €10.5 million.

Weghorst impressed in Germany, finding the back of the net with ease in the Bundesliga. In total, he scored 70 goals in 144 games for 'die Wölfe' (Transfermarkt).

The next step was a move to the Premier League for the Dutchman, who signed for Burnley. However, Weghorst could not impress as much as in Germany and could not prevent Burnley from being relegated to the Championship.

Half a season after his move to Burnley, Weghorst was loaned out to Turkish side Besiktas for the 2022/23 season.

In November 2022, Weghorst was called up to the Dutch national team to represent his country at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The Dutch got through the group stage easily, but Weghorst had to settle for his status as a substitute. However, his moment of glory would come.

In the quarter-finals, the Netherlands faced Lionel Messi and Argentina, a match that would go down in the history books. The Dutch were talking a lot about Messi before the match, and the temperature rose. Argentina took a 0-2 lead thanks to Nahuel Molina and Messi, but Weghorst would not give in so easily.

He came off the bench to score two goals, the last one in the final seconds of the match, making it extra time and infuriating Messi for the first time.

The match eventually ended in a penalty shoot-out, and it was Argentina who went through after a 3-4 win. Weghorst and Louis van Gaal, the Dutch manager, were left heartbroken after a hard-fought match.

Messi was well on his way to winning his first World Cup and was a happy man when he spoke to the press afterwards. During an interview, however, he lashed out at Weghorst when the Dutchman glared at him.

"What are you looking at, bobo [fool]", Messi said.

The insult towards Weghorst came out naturally, Messi told Argentine journalist Andy Kusnetzoff. "These are moments of great tension, a lot of anxiousness, everything happens very quickly and you don’t have time to think about anything. Actually, nothing was planned, it happened like that and as I say, it isn’t an image I like to give off."

After the World Cup, Weghorst's loan spell at Besiktas was ended prematurely. However, he was picked up by Manchester United for the rest of the 2022/23 season.

Weghorst only scored two goals for United (Transfermarkt), and returned to Burnley at the end of the season. Soon after, he was loaned out again, this time to German side TSG Hoffenheim, where he will play for the 2023/24 season.

What's next for Wout Weghorst, the man who infuriated Lionel Messi?