Being your team’s talisman is not an easy job – but Lionel Messi knows how to carry the weight of expectation better than anyone.
Argentina are into the quarter-finals of the World Cup, and they have Messi to thank. Lionel Scaloni’s team were heavily favoured to win the last 16 tie, yet they did not live up to their billing as a team.
Luckily, they have an individual who has made a career out of living up to his. Messi, and a glaring Australia error, carried them through, helping secure a 2-1 scoreline and a match against Netherlands on Friday.
For the first 35 minutes Australia had played the role of plucky underdogs perfectly. They had sat deep, worked hard, shut down passing lanes and frustrated their opponents. They knew their best chance of causing yet another shock in this tournament lay with patience.
Then, with a sense of inevitability, came the sting. Messi, who had been walking around the pitch at times, sensed his moment to strike and did so with devastating effect. He lent the ball to a teammate then took it off the toe of Nicolas Otamendi to curl a trademark precise low finish into the net.
It was the first shot on target in the match. Messi finished the first half with just 26 touches of the ball. And yet this was a targeted strike – he didn’t need the ball for long to carry it out.
The goal was a landmark one for Messi; many are these days. On his 1,000th career appearance, this was his 789th goal. It was also his ninth in World Cups, moving him above the legendary Diego Maradona and one behind Gabriel Batistuta in the Argentina history books.
Messi’s burst of magic came after a rare moment of aggression. Australia right-back Aziz Behich had rubbed the Paris Saint-Germain star up the wrong way with a foul. Grabbing a piece of his shirt and getting up into his face was perhaps, in hindsight, not the wisest move.
Argentina’s incredible support rallied around their main man and roared him on. Minutes later, the ball was in the back of the net.
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His impact came amid an undercurrent of doubt around the 35-year-old’s enduring ability. Before the game, pundit Rio Ferdinand pointed out, with tongue in cheek, that he had a World Cup knockout goal and Messi did not.
Less jokingly, Rafael van der Vaart was declaring Messi’s best days behind him on Dutch TV. "This Messi? I played against 'The Messi' and believe me, I screamed for my mother,” the former Tottenham midfielder said. “Back then he was so good, you couldn't catch him. Right now, you can catch him."
Before Messi’s goal, Argentina looked rudderless. They could not find a way around, or through, the Aussie low block. But once Messi had scored, an air of confidence was restored.
After Messi magic came Australian error. Mat Ryan tried to dribble the ball past Rodrigo de Paul, only to have his pocket picked by Julian Alvarez, who tapped into an empty net.
Australia pulled a goal back in the most fortunate of circumstances when Craig Goodwin's pot-shot smacked Enzo Fernandez in the face and flew into the corner. Behich was denied by a brilliant challenge from substitute Lisandro Martinez and substitute Garang Kuol forced a late save from Emi Martinez, but there was no fairy tale equaliser for Australia.
Argentina had done enough and, even though they might have liked it, they didn't need Lautaro Martinez to score in the 89th minute following a dazzling run and pass from Messi. Martinez skied his finish in front of an open goal in a moment which summed Argentina up. Later, he saw another chance, also fashioned by Messi, go to waste with Ryan saving.
Before the game Rio Ferdinand was asked on the BBC whether Argentina have enough to win the World Cup. “I think with Messi they have to be in the conversation,” he said. “He’s that big of a talent, you could put any game plan in front of this guy and he’ll find a way of unpicking it because of his sheer ability and his nous around the football pitch. He’s done it time after time after time.”
We can now add another time to that extensive list.
