Having overcome a faltering start in their first World Cup campaign against Saudi Arabia, an Argentina squad fuelled by a hard-fought victory over Australia in their second round fixture secured a spot in the quarter-final by bettering the Australian side 2-1 on Saturday.
Australia frustrated Argentina for 35 minutes, sitting deep and compact, allowing no space in behind – Alejandro Gomez’s wild shot that flew way over was the only sniff they had.
Messi then scores his first ever World Cup knockout goal and the 1000th career game with a moment of magic to break the deadlock against Australia.
Nicolas Otamendi’s poor touch landed at the feet of the PSG star, and he curled the ball into the far corner with his first shot of the contest to put his side 1-0 up.
Messi has now surpassed Diego Maradona’s World Cup goal with his sublime effort against the Aussies.
Julian Avarez made it 2-0 in the 57th minute of the encounter
Australia pulled one back in the 77th minute but it wasn’t enough to see them through
