The Dutch national coach Louis van Gaal is a quirky character to say the least and his press conferences are always newsworthy. On Thursday, he came out with striker Memphis Depay to answer questions about the Netherlands’ upcoming match against Argentina and van Gaal offered to kiss Depay on the mouth. The Dutch striker had a bewildered look on his face as everyone around them laughed loudly.
The incident was preceded by a question asking Van Gaal his opinion of Argentina winger Angel Di Maria calling him the “worst manager he has played under”. Both shared the dressing room in Di Maria’s one-year spell at Manchester United.
Van Gaal burst out laughing, picked himself up and said: “He had a hard time there, burglars broke into his house, he found it difficult to settle in the city, but that is rare, a player who tells me that I a bad coach, usually it’s the other way around, they all say I’m a great coach,” he said.
HILARIOUS moment Louis Van Gaal says he kisses Memphis Depay on the MOND #Louis van Gaal #memphis #depay pic.twitter.com/svvvCxl9pN
— BeanymanSports (@BeanymanSports) December 8, 2022
“Memphis sits next to me [Depay]. He was also in Manchester [United]. And now we kiss on the mouth,” said the coach to which Depay burst into laughter after waving his finger to indicate his intentions.
“We are not going to do that. But that’s how it goes in football,” said Van Gaal.
‘Am I not entertaining you? Then you say that I am a boring coach.” He then sought reinforcement: “Didn’t you see the goal we scored against the USA (the first goal in a 20-pass streak)? When Brazil scored such a goal, I read in the media from my friends that it was sparkling football. While we did. We actually play the same football,” he said.