Lionel Messi once again proved why he is the best player on Earth. When his team needed him most, he stepped up and took responsibility. Argentina started their World Cup journey with a massive shock, losing against Saudi Arabia. Last night, the Albiceleste had no choice but to defeat Mexico. And guess what?
Lionel Messi scored and registered an assist against Mexico to beat them by a 2-0 margin. As a result, Argentina climbed up to 2nd place with three points. But that doesn’t secure their seat in the Round of 16. Argentina must win their next game against Poland to go to the next round.
As it happened
Compared to the first match, Argentina’s boss Lionel Scaloni made five changes to the squad to face Mexico at Lusail Stadium. He dropped Molina, Tagliafico, Parades, Papu Gomez, and Christian Romero and started with Acuna, Montiel, Guido Rodrigez, Mac Allister, and Lisandro Martinez.
However, Lionel Scaloni used the same formation as he set in the first game, 4-2-3-1. On the other hand, Mexico boss Gerardo Martino played his team in a 5-3-2 formation.
Argentina and Mexico both were slow in the first half. They were more concerned about not conceding any goal in the first half. But Argentina had more possession on the ball than Mexico. However, the first half ended 0-0 as both parties failed to score.
Returning from the break, Argentina played relatively better than in the first half. Messi went deeper and tried to create chances. Finally, Lionel Messi scored a stunning goal outside from the box in the 64th minute.
Scoring the first goal, Argentina became more aggressive. They highly pressed the opponents. Moreover, Argentina’s victory was confirmed in the 87th minute when Enzo Fernandez scored a brilliant goal with the help of Leo Messi. After that, Mexico tried hard but failed to score in the remaining minutes. Therefore, Argentina won the first game in the World Cup.
Messi’s Reaction
Lionel Messi talked to the media after the thrilling victory against Mexico. Messi said, “We can’t give up now. We have all the finals to play, and we can’t make mistakes. We knew that the response to the people would be like this; I think we complied; we’ve been together for a long time. I think that at times, especially in the second half, we returned to being what we are. Now, against Poland, we will try to continue in this way.”
Lione Messi explained the game against Mexico. “The first half was difficult due to the situation; we couldn’t find the spaces. In the second half, we began to have long possessions; we found spaces between the lines and balls closer to the area,” he added.