Argentina captain, Lionel Messi, has explained that his tears after Tuesday’s World Cup comeback win over Egypt stemmed from guilt over a missed penalty, rather than pure joy at reaching the quarter-finals.
Argentina came from two goals down to beat Egypt 3-2 in Atlanta, with Messi missing a first-half penalty before recovering to set up Cristian Romero’s goal, score the equaliser himself, and see Enzo Fernandez complete the comeback deep into stoppage time.
Speaking after the match, Messi said the missed spot-kick weighed on him through the rest of the game.
“I cried because I felt that I let my teammates down, because of the penalty I missed… and the way I took it.
“But thankfully once again, God had something special for me in the end. I’m very happy,” Messi said.
He said the team’s refusal to accept elimination carried them through.
“We didn’t want and didn’t deserve to go home, we could not let it end like that.
“This group really deserved to keep going. We never give up, at all. Never,” he stated.
Messi’s penalty was saved by Egypt goalkeeper, Mostafa Shobeir, in the 20th minute, moments after Yasser Ibrahim had put Egypt ahead.
Egypt extended their lead through Mostafa Zico before Messi turned the game on its head, teeing up Romero and then scoring himself in the 83rd minute to draw Argentina level, before Fernandez struck the winner.
The equaliser was Messi’s eighth goal of the tournament, taking him back to the top of the Golden Boot standings ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland, and extending his record of scoring in six straight World Cup knockout matches.
Messi was overcome with emotion at the final whistle in what is widely expected to be his last World Cup appearance. Argentina will face Switzerland in the quarter-finals on July 11 in Kansas City.
