A glimpse of Lionel Messi magic once again became the point of difference for Argentina as the South American side went through to the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2022 by defeating Australia 2-1 on Saturday evening at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.
The 35-year-old wizard put up his best display in the tournament, taking multiple Australian players together, like he used to in the very prime of his career. The mercurial forward used all his experience and his understanding of tight spaces to break the deadlock in the 35th minute of the game. The goal came at a point when Argentina vs Australia had faded into a mid-field batte with both teams struggling to take control of the ball.Messi saw an opportunity in the chaos and proceeded to drift towards the right side of the pitch. Messi passed the ball into Mac Allister in the centre – just outside the penalty box, who then played a forward pass to Otamendi in the box. Otamendi teed off the ball to Messi who had changed direction and came into the box. Messi in his vintage self, took a sublime curling effort, which went through the bodies of three Australian shirts surrounding him and got deposited at the far side of the net.
