Argentina boss Scaloni demands 'end to idea' his side are not good winners

Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni has given a furious defence of his team after they received criticism following their World Cup quarter-final victory over Holland.

The South American nation reached the semi-finals in a chaotic match which ended in ugly scenes following their penalty shoot-out win.

After Lautaro Martinez  scored the decisive spot-kick, Argentina players appeared to mock their disconsolate Dutch counterparts as they ran away to celebrate reaching the next round.

Ahead of Tuesday's semi-final with Croatia, Scaloni addressed criticisms against his side that they are 'bad winners'.

He said in his pre-match press conference: 'We need to put an end to this idea of Argentina not being good winners.

'We deeply respect the rivals we played against. We lost to Saudi Arabia and we kept quiet.

'We won the Copa America in Brazil with the most sporting behaviour - Messi, Neymar, (Leandro) Paredes sitting together in the tunnel in the Maracana.'

He added: 'The game the other day was played as it had to be played. Both on the Dutch side and on the Argentina side.

'In games like this there are different moments and there can be discussions. We know how to lose and we know how to win.'

FIFA said on Saturday that it had opened disciplinary proceedings against the Argentinian FA after eight of their players received yellow cards during the game - with seven handed to Dutch players.

Nicolas Otamendi and Paredes who were prime offenders in the ugly scenes are set to escape punishment - as it penalty shoot-out hero Emi Martinez who claimed that the referee was biased in favour of the Dutch.

Former Man City defender Otamendi said: 'I celebrated in their faces because there was a Netherlands player, who at every penalty kick we had was coming and saying things to one of our players,’

Argentine journalists published footage which seemed to show four Dutch players — Denzel Dumfries, Wout Weghorst, Noa Lang and Frenkie De Jong — all peeling off from their team huddle on the halfway line and trying to unsettle Lautaro Martinez before his kick.

Dumfries, who was booked for this, admitted the gamesmanship. ‘You try to disturb each other, but it goes back and forth,’ he said. ‘I don’t like to point the fingers at other players, but I had my reasons. I don’t know if that was smart but something happened that made me react.’

The extraordinary scenes were sparked by a late Paredes tackle on Nathan Ake, before the midfielder then thumped the ball into the Dutch bench — to the fury of Louis van Gaal’s staff.

Paredes was then body checked by a Virgil van Dijk chest bump with both players receiving yellow cards.

Afrer the match, referee Antonio Lahoz showed a red to Dumfries and a yellow to Argentina assistant Walter Samuel .

Aston Villa keeper Martinez, who saved two spot-kicks, was at the heart of most of the acrimony, taunting the Dutch staff and bench. ‘Keep your mouth shut you f***ing t***! I f***ed you twice!’ he said.

Messi also unleashed his fury on van Gaal’s staff, breaking away from one TV interview to shout at one of them: ‘What are you looking at? Fool!’

Messi took aim at Van Gaal over his direct tactics, saying: ‘Van Gaal says that they [Holland] play good football but what he did was put on tall people and hit long balls.’ Messi confronted Van Gaal, with Dutch assistant coach Edgar Davids playing peacemaker.

They now face a Croatia side who remarkably emerged victorious via penalties against pre-tournament favourites Brazil.

Argentina know about the problems Croatia pose - after losing 3-0 to them in the group stage four years ago in Russia.