Messi kicks Australia out
Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi scored his first World Cup goal in the knockout stages to help Argentina knock Australia out 2-1 in Saturday night’s last-16 clash at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan.
🇦![CDATA[]]>🇷 Argentina hold on to secure a place in the quarter-finals of the #FIFAWorldCup #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/PrdO4t87XR
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) December 3, 2022
In his 1 000th career match, the 35-year-old side-footed through massed defence in the 35th minute for his third strike in Qatar and 789th overall.
Julian Alvarez punished a mistake by goalkeeper Maty Ryan to make it 2-0 just before the hour mark and the Albiceleste held on for a quarterfinal date with Netherlands. The Aussies pulled one back in the 77th minute after a deflected shot off Enzo Fernandez looped into goal.