When the chips were down, Argentina time and again relied on their superstar and captain Lionel Messi in the ongoing World Cup. When Argentina were trailing against Egypt in the Round of 16, Messi scored and assisted to spark a late comeback in the second half.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner rolled back the years once again when Argentina were trailing England 1-0 in the semi-final, with just five minutes of regulation time to go. He set up two goals in eight minutes as Argentina stunned England in stoppage time to seal their place in the final.
With his double assist against England, Messi took his tally to four, in addition to his eight goals in the tournament.
By doing so, he also surpassed Kylian Mbappe in the Golden Boot race. The France captain also scored eight goals during his team’s run to the semi-finals, which was ended following a defeat to Spain.
Mbappe trails Messi as he has one assist less than the latter. However, Mbappe can still win the Golden Boot if he scores one or more goals in the third-place game against England, and Messi fails to find the net against Spain in the final.
In fact, both Messi and Mbappe can still miss out on the Golden Boot if Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal scores four goals in the final, while the other two fail to find the back of the net.
Oyarzabal has five goals to his name so far.
Trailing 1-0 going into the last five minutes of regulation time, Messi fed a pinpoint ball to substitute Lautaro Martinez in the second minute of injury time to give the defending champions a 2-1 victory over England on Wednesday.
Messi also provided the assist to Enzo Fernandez in the 85th minute for the equalizing goal.
At the end of another exhausting match – another match in which Argentina was stretched to the final minutes – Messi dropped to his knees in celebration.