As Argentines throw all their might and emotions behind Messi after years of frigid response, team’s engine acknowledges that the bond makes them stronger
Lionel Messi
The passion that Argentine football oozes—both, on the pitch by their players, and off it, by their highly emotional fans—is a joy to experience. On Saturday night, those emotions were in full view, as Lionel Messi scored his ninth World Cup goal—one more than the legendary Diego Maradona and one less than national record holder Gabriel Batistuta—against Australia in a Round-of-16 clash.
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Argentine skipper Lionel Messi (centre) and teammates acknowledge the crowd after the victory over Australia on Saturday. Pic/AFP
The 45,000-strong crowd, mostly Argentina fans, had filled up the venue almost two hours before kick-off. This is not common as most venues here have been filling up just 20 or 30 minutes before the start. The Argentine fans probably sensed that something special was coming. And it sure did. Lionel Messi wowed and mesmerised the audience, sometimes even drawing appreciative applause from the handful of Australian fans at the far end.
Also Read: Lionel Messi: Were very angry after Saudi defeat, this win is a huge relief
Record 23rd WC match
On the pitch, the Australian players struggled to contain the man playing his record 23rd World Cup match (joint third alongside Paolo Maldini 23, and behind Miroslav Klose 24 and Lothar Matthaus 25) as he harrowed them with his accurate first-time passes, switching of positions by hand-signalling teammates to move into empty pockets and quick sprints on turnovers. The goal started it all. Messi worked out a neat one-two with Nicolas Otamendi on the edge of the Australian box and sweetly side-footed the ball through a sea of Aussie legs and into the far left corner of the goal. The fans lapped it all up, lifting their hands in the air and bringing them down, bending forward each time with chants of “Messi, Messi,” in salutation of their God. Such was the intensity in the stands on the night that one couldn’t hear what the person next to you was saying, unless whispered in your ear. Messi & Co though heard and responded to everything. And after the game, the players engaged in an extended celebration with their afficionados. Messi was in the centre of the group, jumping and singing along with the crowd. Deep defender Otamendi, who brilliantly held the defence while the Aussies launched a late fightback, took off his shirt in celebration. And forward Lautaro Martinez, who was brought on in the 71st minute, but could only manage to spray the ball across all sides of the Aussie goal, was spraying water on his teammates.
Lionel Scaloni
Both, coach Lionel Scaloni and Messi, stressed that this victory, coming in a campaign where they began with a shocking 1-2 defeat to Saudi Arabia, was especially for their fans. “When I see the players celebrating with the fans after the game, it’s a unique morale boost. I don’t think everyone can experience what a player feels when he sees all these people and knows his country is behind him. There is nothing better in football. They [fans] make you want to go out and celebrate because from a physical point of view, it’s difficult to play so many games at this level, but when you see this, the people being so happy after the game, especially the team feeling identified with the people and the people with them, everything is sealed,” said Scaloni.
‘Grateful to fans’
“The union, the bond we have with our fans is something very beautiful and it’s what this national team are all about. It’s unbelievable how they [fans] live every single match and how they express their passion, energy and joy. I know how much effort they have put into coming here and I know the whole of Argentina would want to be here. These are amazing feelings and we are grateful,” Messi summed up the night and the emotions.
1986
The last time Argentina won the FIFA World Cup
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