As Argentina defeated Australia 2-1 to go to the World Cup quarterfinals in Qatar, Lionel Messi scored in his 1,000th game.
The Paris Saint-Germain forward opened the scoring on 35 minutes after a quiet first half hour in front of a raucous blue and white crowd at the Al-Rayyan Stadium, which was packed and gave off the atmosphere of Messi’s own country.
With his customary style, Messi scored his 789th career goal, passing Diego Maradona to become the World Cup player with the most goals.
When Nicolas Otamendi passed the ball back to the 35-year-old, he took a touch, cut into the box from the right side, and advanced into the penalty area before drilling home with his left foot.
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When Mathew Ryan attempted to dribble a backpass past Rodrigo De Paul but the ball slipped out to Julian Alvarez, Argentina increased its advantage just before the hour mark of the second half.
Craig Goodwin gave the underwhelming Socceroos hope with less than 25 minutes remaining by cutting the score with a shot that received a significant deflection and was credited as an own goal by Enzo Fernandez.
Aziz Behich soon after performed an incredible slalom run that Messi would have been proud of.
The Australian defender easily dribbled past three or four opponents before being stopped by Lisandro Martinez’s well executed slide tackle.
In place of the goal scorer Alvarez, Lautaro Martinez missed two opportunities to put the tie beyond doubt for La Albiceleste, the two-time champions.
Garang Kuol came close to tying the score in the seventh minute of stoppage time, but Emiliano Martinez stopped him with a well-placed left arm in the box.
It ended up being the final play of the game, with Australia being eliminated at the sound of the final whistle.
