EPIC COMEBACK: Magic mortal Messi rescues Argentina and lives to fight another day

Lionel Messi broke down in tears at the final whistle, consoled by his Argentina teammates as the captain appeared to realise just how close his World Cup dream came to ending on Tuesday in a game in which he missed a penalty before coming up with a vital late equaliser. Argentina were two goals down to Egypt with just over 10 minutes to play in the last-16 tie, before staging a fight back to win 3-2, which will live long in the memory of those inside Atlanta Stadium who witnessed Messi show his human side during and after the game. The finale was a far cry from how the afternoon began, with Messi looking extremely relaxed despite the high stakes, giving a wry smile to the cameras as he waited to emerge from the tunnel and winking at the mascots. His first touch was a misplaced pass, however, and when Egypt took the lead Argentina trailed for the first time at this World Cup. The champions were handed the perfect opportunity to level six minutes after conceding the first goal, but Messi put his spot-kick too close to the keeper, becoming the first player to miss two penalties at a single World Cup, excluding shootouts. Messi sent a penalty wide in the group game with Austria, missing the chance to break Miroslav Klose’s all-time World Cup scoring record, but went on to net twice in that 2-0 win having bagged a hat-trick in the opener against Algeria. The 39-year-old has since surged past the previous mark of 16, and against Egypt he scored for the ninth consecutive World Cup game, his 21st goal drawing Argentina level at 2-2. Mortal Messi Messi’s first-half performance was well below his imperious standards. He did strike a free kick against the post, but found it difficult to weave his way through the disciplined Egyptian defence. At one stage, Argentina did well to win back possession and looked set to launch a quick counter, only to see Messi surprised by Karim Hafez who nipped in to take the ball as he waited to collect a pass. Messi also ballooned a shot high and wide, and the largely blue-and-white-clad crowd waited expectantly for a second-half display to banish the memories of his underwhelming opening 45 minutes. Once again, however, Egypt tore up the script. Mostafa Zico had a goal disallowed, but Argentina failed to heed the warning and the Egyptian winger soon doubled his side’s lead. Cristian Romero’s goal gave Argentina hope, and Messi’s gave them belief. A scramble in the box ended with Julian Alvarez’s cushioned pass back and Messi drilled in a sweet half-volley which the keeper got a hand to, but could not keep out. Messi wheeled away in delight and celebrated as never before at this tournament, leaping into the air and pumping his fists with the momentum now firmly with Argentina. “Leo (Messi) keeps showing what a great legend he is, and we’re happy to be able to be with him,” Argentina striker Julian Alvarez told reporters. “I’m not usually someone who gets emotional, but today I felt it deeply.” Argentina were given a battle royal by Cape Verde in the previous round, needing an own goal to win in extra time after twice being pegged back. Egypt gave them an even tougher fight, however, and a major fright which may serve Messi and his teammates well as they continue their title defence in a quarterfinal against Switzerland on Saturday. Faded The North Africans fell apart in the closing stages, however, as the 39-year-old Messi, whose record World Cup goal haul is now up to 21, orchestrated Argentina’s dramatic revival. The captain provided the cross from which Romero headed home to start the comeback in the 79th minute and four minutes later Messi crashed home the equaliser after substitutes Lautaro Martinez and Gonzalo Montiel had both got vital touches to keep the ball away from Egyptian defenders. The winner came from a counter-attack as Lautaro Martínez crossed from the right and Enzo Fernandez cushioned a back-post header past goalkeeper Mostafa Shoubir. “I’d been longing for this goal for three years. We have a phenomenal group, one that never gives up,” Fernandez said. “We had to take advantage of the spaces they gave us, and we did. We came here to enjoy another World Cup and to represent our country. And that’s what we’re doing.” Egypt felt they deserved a penalty before the breakaway and vociferously complained but to no avail. They had been surprisingly attacking in the early stages, bucking their recent tendency of sitting back and looking for counter-attack opportunities, and they opened the scoring after 15 minutes. Emam Ashour attempted to tease his way past the Argentinian defence on the right flank but, seeing no way through, passed back to Marwan Attia, who floated in a long cross that Ibrahim rose to head home. The lead should have only lasted four minutes as Haissem Hassan caught overlapping Argentinian fullback Nicolás Tagliafico with a late tackle to give away a penalty. But it only served to mark the start of the goalkeeping heroics of Shoubir, whose dive to the left easily stopped a weak left-footed effort from Messi that was too close to the keeper. Goalkeeper heroics Shoubir made a reflex stop to deny a point-blank header from Alexis Mac Allister in the 28th minute, and pulled off an even more extraordinary save six minutes from half-time to stop Julian Alvarez’s shot, stretching to turn the ball around the post. In between, Messi crashed a free kick against the post. Egypt had the ball in the net in the 62nd minute but Zico’s finish, after a sweeping move inspired by Hassan’s trickery and Mohamed Salah’s pass, was chalked off after a VAR review found that Attia had fouled Lisandro Martínez in the build-up. Five minutes later, however, Egypt doubled their lead in similar circumstances. Salah swept the ball forward on the counter, Hassan took it to the byline, and Zico came storming in to finish the cutback pass. “The win was within our reach. We were only missing a few small details,” Shoubir said. “As everyone saw, we were close – very close – to winning, but it just wasn’t meant to be.” Argentina advanced to a quarter-final against Switzerland in Kansas City on Saturday. The Swiss beat Colombia on penalties after the match finished 0-0. Reuters/DM