Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez slammed the ref after Argentina's World Cup shootout victory over Holland.

There were an astonishing 14 bookings over the course of 128 minutes – six for the Netherlands, eight for Argentina – plus a yellow card for Argentina assistant Walter Samuel and a red card for Denzel Dumfries.

Martinez took delight in eliminating The Netherlands – a repeat of the outcome of the 2014 semi-final in Brazil – and claimed he had heard Louis van Gaal, who ended his reign as coach, saying spot-kicks were all part of his plan after they had come from 2-0 down to force extra-time.

"It was a tricky game," said Martinez. "I thought we controlled the game really well. We went 2-0 up, basically we controlled the game. The referee was just giving everything for them. All of a sudden they get a good header, a good flick, which I couldn't see and then it just turned upside down.

"The referee gave everything for them. He gave 10 minutes [added time] for no reason. He was giving free-kicks outside the box for them, like two, three times. He just wanted them to score, that's basically it. So, hopefully we don't have him that ref anymore. He's useless."